Fire of Will
by negautrunks
Summary: AU with me as OC. Time: after Shippuden. A kunoichi with a haunting past and no future fights a losing battle for Konoha blindly. After her reason for living rejects her, where can she turn for a reason to live? GRAPHIC. LEMON. Kaka/OC Ita/OC Kaka/Saku
1. Chapter 1

The Fire of Will

Ch. 1 – Ambush!

a/n: _Italicized words_ denote thoughts. Also, in all of my fan fiction (not posted here T-T) I am the main character. Next order of business: This fic is rated 'M' for a reason, that reason being mainly gore and violence, language included. There may be some lemons later, I don't know how pleasant they'll be, probably some kakasaku. Of course, I'll be involved , but I'm not telling who else is involved just yet! Lastly, I don't own any Naruto characters, the only character I own in this fic is ME!!! Please R&R, I'm aware this fic will probably suck, but at least tell me how. I would like to ask you all to please continue reading after Ch. 1, I know Ch. 1 is not so good, but the story gets better as it progresses, I promise, all I can say is I wish someone would review with some suggestions for Ch. 1, because the rest of the fic is pretty good. I mean, I have over 700 hits for Ch.1, and only 8 for Ch. 15. cry. Thanks you guys for reading. Enjoy.

Ok, here we go.

She leaned against the railing of the tower, her long blonde hair swaying softly in the warm breeze. The starlight reflected in her dark eyes, illuminating her pale skin, shining on her drawn lips. Konoha… the village, though well protected now, was missing many familiar faces. True, some were only stationed along the borders. But so many…

Tsunade couldn't help but sigh softly at the sliver in the sky. The three of them had been born and raised in this village, how had he turned against everything that had strengthened him? Everyone who had supported him – yes, even loved him and shown him friendship. She was sure that he was somewhere out there, hiding, plotting, she was sure that somehow, he was behind all of this. But how? Where was he? She had long since stopped deploying elite groups and had canceled all s-class missions designed to search for him.

What could he possibly have to gain from these mindless games?

_Orochimaru…_

::Dream Sequence::

Humid darkness enveloped her. She breathed in the smells of damp dirt, and tasted iron on her tongue. Something sandy ground around in her mouth.

"_Probably my teeth,"_ she thought wryly.

Hands bound above her, she attempted to draw some chakra in hopes of pulling or even possibly melting the bindings apart. It was no use, her hands were bound back to back, preventing any hand seals.

"_Damnit!"_

She squirmed about uselessly, then was still.

"_I don't need them to know I'm awake… Shit…"_

The door slid open and blinding light hit her in the face like one of Lee's roundhouse kicks, slipping through the gaps in her brown black hair which she now noticed shielded most of her face from the direct path of the light. As her eyes adjusted slowly to the brightness, she noticed a few things. The first thing that struck her was the sight of her shattered ANBU mask on the dirt floor in front of her. Secondly, looking up from the floor, she saw that someone with silver hair stood mouthing noiselessly at her… no, she was able to hear him saying something, almost. Was that Kakashi? No, no way… It didn't fully sink yet, but somehow her ears weren't functioning properly and for her to have thought that the person in front of her was Kakashi meant that she was downright disoriented.

Then she saw it, and immediately a deep, dull pain blossomed first in her head, then throughout her body. Red washed over her vision, and nausea crept up and poured out of her bloody mouth onto the floor in front of her.

Her white armor had been completely slashed through, and where her side had been before, there was only a gaping, bloody, burned hole marring her once beautiful dulce de leche smooth skin. She realized she'd been critically wounded, and someone had done a shitty job trying to cauterize the deep wound. This was the only reason she breathed now, and with each painful breath afterwards, she swore that whoever made the cut, and whoever 'fixed' it would pay with their lives…

Outside, she continued to show the face that she usually wore under her now shattered mask, that deadly serious, silent face, the face of an ANBU assassin.

"_This is still a mission…"_ she thought to herself, grasping at straws for control.

Cold sweat covered her body and she clenched what were left of her teeth in preparation for the blow that connected shortly with the side of her broken face.

"Are you even listening?" she heard vaguely from the form in front of her.

As her head tipped sideways from the force of the blow, blood poured out of her left ear, hitting the floor with a sickening splatter. Then the shock set in, and she realized someone must have deafened her.

"_Damned sound-nins…"_

Kabuto must have realized this as well when he saw the blood hit the floor because the next thing she felt was him grabbing the sides of her head and pulling it upright, pumping chakra into the wounded orifices. She lulled off slowly, as the healing, pain-relieving tendrils of chakra mended her broken head, and her last sarcastic thought before the blackness cam was,

"_I wonder if he'll fix my side too, hm…"_

He hated sharing his tent with her on missions. Oh, how he hated it. Unfortunately, being the youngest member of the squad meant he got dished all the shit, all the time. He had awoken to the sounds of her teeth grinding loudly, and he sat up and scooted out of his bedroll and across the tent as the dry heaving started up.

"Shit!" he panicked to himself. "She better not fucking puke in here, not on my new bedroll…"

He eyed his pillow and roll, but didn't dare to move them, out of fear that she'd wake up, which could possibly be worse than her up-chucking all over his new bedding.

"Why don't I ever get any sleep on these fucking missions…" He sighed aloud.

She started moving around and sighing. Finally, she shot straight up, sitting in the canvas tent looking around as if trapped. She threw an icy-hot look into Naruto's face, further highlighted by the dancing colors that seemed to spin in her hazel eyes that were now tinged with the gray-orange light of dawn. He felt her chill caress his heart, then grip it.

They sat looking at each other like that for what seemed like minutes, but what was really only seconds. He saw the fire in her eyes, the sweat beading on her slender, exposed neck. In the dim, grey light of the forest before dawn, he watched as her chest rose and fell rapidly but silently.

She blinked and broke the spell, coolly sauntering out of the tent.


	2. Chapter 2

The Fire of Will

Ch. 2 – War and Shame

-----------------------------------

Kakashi awoke to the sound of water splashing and fire crackling. By the looks of the light seeping into the tent, it couldn't have been later than 5:00 am. And, as usual, Shinju was already up. As he sat up in his tent and pulled his hitae-ate on, he heard Naruto's loud yawns and felt a little guilty, wondering just how much sleep the new young ANBU had gotten. Ever since the events of six years ago, Shinju had never been the same, and it was common knowledge that she either slept restlessly (if you could use that word), or not at all. Still, she was the best on the field next to himself and maybe Morino, especially since they'd lost so many good ninja since the beginning of the war. If that hadn't been the case, Kakashi was sure that Tsunade never would have let this particular kunoichi take on missions in her present condition. Kakashi sighed and strapped on his vest, then picked up his katana.

"_It's too early in the morning for this shit…"_ he thought, yet the memories of his comrades killed in action continued to linger at the back of his mind. From Obito to the most recent Gai, they all haunted him, fueling the deep-seated guilt in his heart. His head heavy, Kakashi dragged himself out of his tent and back on duty. As captain of this three-man team, it was his responsibility to make sure none of that happened to his teammates ever again.

Shinju greeted him with a small smile as he strapped his katana to his back.

"How was your night?"

"I slept." She looked away into the fire.

"Ah."

Pulling the small pan from the fire, she called to Naruto and served Kakashi his portion of meat. Naruto rolled out of the tent and wolfed his portion while Kakashi and Shinju cleaned up the camp.

"Let's move."

Shinju followed and Naruto let out a deafening, "Hai!" and followed suit, still trying to strap on his short-sword, with his mask cocked boyishly on one side of his head. He finally pulled and buckled everything into place as the two, more seasoned ninja leapt ahead of him in silent calculation. They were nearing the end of their border patrol, the ten-day long mission every three-man ANBU team had to take on at least once every month. At any given time, there were at least three teams on duty between the two camps situated on the borders with Rain and Waterfall. Wind was also monitored, but the hidden Sand had their own patrols and camps, besides, they were by no means the enemy.

The last Fire camp came into view several hours later, marking the intersections of Wind, Rain, and Fire. Here, the party would rest for the day, help out in the camp and get ready to go back to Konoha in the morning and report to the Hokage.

Shinju had been looking forward to this, to reaching the last camp of the mission. She saluted Morino, who was making a face at Naruto. That kid was already kicking back around the fire with the lazy-ass Shikamaru, Shino along with them. Naruto, of course, was stuffing his face with what looked like the entire instant ramen ration available at the camp. Shinju sniffed condescendingly. With a slight nod again in Morino's direction, Shinju ducked into the medic's tent.

"Need any help?"

The pink-haired kunoichi turned around and couldn't hide a tear that fell as the two women embraced. Sakura and Shinju shared a history, one that they would share forever, whether they liked it or not.

"Sakura, how are you sleeping?" Shinju asked as she rubbed her eyes gingerly.

"Fine. You know, here I don't take so many missions so I can usually take a little something…" Sakura smiled faintly. "You?"

"Sakura…" She trailed off.

The two kunoichi looked each other in the eye.

"The border is still the same," Shinju reported. "No sign of him anywhere, I really think he might be dead. If it wasn't for the seal…"

"You – We have to let go!" Sakura cried, shaking Shinju's shoulder lightly. Her eyes darted to the part of the seal that peeked out from under her friend's long ANBU glove.

"Sakura, you know we need revenge. Kabuto…"

Sakura grimaced as she heard the name, the med-nin had healed them after every beating, training and torture, keeping the young kunoichi alive in hell, stooping to use his medical abilities to support Orochimaru's goals. Sakura bit her lip. She'd been lucky, kept around to heal the bastard's stupid arms, but Shinju… Their party had gotten Sasuke back, only to lose Shinju to Orochimaru by force. After Sakura had been dumped back near Konoha, unable to heal snake-face's arms, Shinju had remained in the hole for two more years, honed to become the perfect killing machine. Shinju even admitted she enjoyed the power afforded her by the cursed seal. But when it came to Konoha, when it came to the question of where her loyalty lay, Shinju's heart was always with the Hidden Leaf village. Even though Orochimaru had given her that power, she hated him for everything he had done to her, to her village, and moreover, she knew she was just being used and would probably be his next container. But when he pinned her into the middle of his plan to destroy Konoha once and for all, Shinju knew what her role would be.

Leading a team of Orochimaru's best five, a team intended for the assassination of the fifth Hokage and the capture of the Kyuubi, Shinju had taken every one of her 'comrades' down, in their fully converted forms. She left no trace of the bodies, covered her trail, and was at the Hokage's desk faster than any other ninja in Konoha would have managed.

Every shinobi in Konoha; Genin, Chuunin and Jounin had been roused to the alert, but in vain. This time, Orochimaru's plan failed even worse than his first plan, he ended up being forced to pull back all of his shinobi and deserted his hideout, presumably to go die somewhere in shame since none other than the five carried the seal that would allow him to transfer bodies. Sasuke didn't really count, considering that he was as good as dead, and within the year, would be.

After the night of the planned attack, Shinju explained herself, her situation and her condition to Tsunade. She told Tsunade everything, about her training, about Orochimaru's plan. She also had information on Akatsuki and some of their whereabouts and plans. Tsunade received this information gladly, and allowed Shinju to remain in the village, performing C and D class missions within the walls. Despite all of the help Shinju could supply, within six months Konoha and the Sand found themselves the focal points of a full-fledged war with every other hidden village, country, and mercenary ninja.

Tsunade and Shinju suspected Orochimaru at the heart of the war, and so Tsunade tried to protect Shinju by keeping her in the village, but finally too many Jounin fell, too many ANBU fell, even Konoha's top hunter-nins were being picked off one by one. With no other choice left, Tsunade assigned Shinju to a team with Hatake Kakashi, a team that became Konoha's ultimate weapon. The ANBU pair took on every last S-rank and unranked mission offered to them, in loyalty and as a sacrifice for all of Konoha.

Recently, Naruto had teamed up with the pair. Tsunade obviously had big plans for him, and was grooming him to be Konoha's next biggest weapon. After that… well, depending on a whole array of factors, the current Hokage would determine Naruto's next step. But for now, He was stuck with the two most skilled (and dangerous) ninjas in all of Fire.

Even throughout the pain of capture, war and losing Sasuke, Sakura and Shinju were still there for each other. And now, exchanging looks, they both thought that no matter what it took, they'd avenge each other. It wasn't the first time they'd thought so, but they both looked away, knowing that the time to take action still hadn't come.

Sakura sighed. "Here, take this," She said, holding out a tiny paper envelope. "You can sleep on my cot for a few hours, if you'd like."


	3. Chapter 3

Will of Fire

Chapter 3: Hokage?

-----------------------------------

The hot afternoon's sun pierced through the medic's tent warmly, welcoming Shinju from her deep, drug-induced sleep. She felt rested, peaceful, energized. Ducking out of the tent, she spotted Naruto at the fire (still?), playing with Akamaru, who now belonged to Hinata. Kiba's clan had been completely wiped out during the war, probably because of their tracking abilities. _Their tempers didn't help them preserve their clans either…_ she thought. At least the Aburames had stayed alive. Now, it was Naruto's turn. Shinju frowned. How had the future of Konoha become her responsibility?

"Uzumaki."

He looked up, smiling broadly. "What is it, Nee-chan?"

Shinju's frown deepened. She hated the way he dragged it out… well, both 'nee' and 'chan'.

"You are ANBU now. You are to address me by my clan name."

"A-are?" His face blanked, and with eyed darting to her scowl, "H-hai, Aka-san!" he saluted her.

She looked pointedly at Naruto.

"Let's spar."

Naruto eyed his older team member, trying not to look nervous. Even from the little he'd heard at the ANBU camps and from Kakashi about her, he knew she was a machine. Yes, they'd been on that mission to retrieve Sasuke six years ago together, but she was a completely different person now from the kunoichi he'd known years ago. Naruto still hadn't had a chance to see her in a real battle, but he figured he was about to. He got down in his stance and looked defensively at Shinju.

"Oh?" she breathed softly, slowly disappearing into white fluff around the tree she had been leaning against. Naruto recognized the genjutsu, and pressed his fingers together in a seal.

"Kai!"

He felt a small warmth trickle down his throat, and felt the sharp tip of her kunai resting just above his artery. She was so fast…

"This is not a game. Think of this as a real battle." The words echoed softly in his ear.

Naruto wondered if she really was trying to kill him, but noticed Kakashi in the trees across the clearing. Releasing her hold and flipping the kunai back into her holster, she stepped in front of Naruto. Kakashi leapt down beside her.

"You're no match for either one of us. However," she paused "Our enemies are at a level similar to that of Hatake and myself."

Naruto whined, "Why doesn't Kakashi-senpai just teach me then if you're both at the same-"

"Urusei! I never said that." Shinju hissed at Naruto. "What do you know about teaching, or levels, or battle?" She scoffed. "And years of training with him is something you've become too accustomed to. You underestimate him, and in turn, he's soft on you."

"Jyaa, from now on, you'll be sparring with Aka-senpai, learning from her and," Kakashi's one-eyed look hardened, "Respecting her authority. This is a war, Naruto. Start acting like it. Aka-san has been through probably the toughest training the shinobi world has to offer." He glanced sideways at her. "You just don't know her capability."

Kakashi grinned under his mask.

"Well, I guess I'd better give you a demonstration. How about it, Aka-san? Let's hash it out!"

A smirk plastered on her face, she replied tauntingly, "Anytime, old man."

Kakashi and Shinju darted away from each other to opposite edges of the clearing. Looking warily at her, he pulled up his hitae-ate.

"Pulling out all the stops, are we, Hatake?" She breathed. "Fine." She stood up straight. It was just a bunshin, he knew, but he listened to it anyway, while sensing around him for danger.

"That won't work on me."

Kakashi did a double take and crouched low to the ground when he saw what she had just revealed. _Did Tsunade know about this? When the fuck did this…_

Staring back into his own mis-matched eyes were two, perfect red Uchiha orbs. A smirk still planted across her face, she stepped right up to Kakashi's crouched form. She could see the gears burning up in his brain.

Eyes focused on her leg guards, he swiftly kicked low and knocked the clone down in a puff of smoke. Turning on the balls of his feet, Kakashi drove his kunai deep into Shinju's chest behind him, only to find a heavy log where she had been a half-second ago. Quickly, he drew his katana, and as Shinju morphed out of the ground several feet in front of him, it struck him that this was Orochimaru's technique. His eyes widened, but he stood his ground and kept his sharingan focused on the strange technique. Shinju drew her katana as well and lunged, the short sword held with one hand close to her neck, ready to swing and slice her opponent's head off. But Kakashi didn't move, as he could observe that her mark was a mile off. She missed completely. Then he realized.

"Shibata!" he grunted as he looked back at her quickly.

Kakashi knew now by watching her movements, this had been a fake, and trying to move as quickly as possible, he sprung his body forward only to realize that somehow, she had been able to get chakra strings around him. "The bunshin." he thought. "Damn." Shinju was behind him in a low stance, feet glued firmly to the ground with chakra behind the paralyzed Kakashi, half of her seal released and katana squarely positioned to run through his heart. _She is so… fast…_

"I win." Shinju snapped the strings that rendered Kakashi motionless and retracted her seal. She also cut off the chakra to her sharingan, and her eyes sunk back to a deep black.

By far, she was the best on the field. And Kakashi was just glad she was on their side, or he might have already been dead.


	4. Chapter 4

Fire of Will

Chapter 4: Secrets of Konoha

-----------------------------------

Jiraiya sat next to Kakashi in the small tea shop.

"Is that so? Well, I don't see why Tsunade would keep something like that from me, unless the girl wanted some privacy concerning the matter. She never needed it before coming back into ANBU's service, so why would she have wanted to cause undue alarm or elicit shock from people by saying things that in her case, just didn't matter at the time?" Jiraiya said easily, in a relaxed sort of pose, sipping his warm sake.

"We've been on missions together for the last two years." Kakashi put down his teacup with undue force. "What can you mean, 'It didn't matter'?" The frustrated shinobi raised his voice slightly.

"Maybe she knows something we don't? Ever think of that?" Jiraiya quipped back at Kakashi.

Kakashi sloshed the murky green liquid around in the brown teacup.

"You could always ask."

Both men looked up. Jiraiya offered her a dango, while Kakashi double-took again. Kakashi looked sideways at Jiraiya while the older man clapped him on the shoulder with a look that said, "Come on man…"

Smiling, she ordered another bottle of warmed sake for herself and Jiraiya, and munched gaily on the pink and green dango offered her by the fatherly sannin.

"Kakashi, I hate to ruin the mood here, but the story of my sharingan isn't the happiest."

She fake-smiled and winked at Kakashi, knowing that as soon as she said that, his thoughts had turned to his own sharingan's previous owner.

"Ho, ho, ho… you're not a little girl anymore, Shinju!" Jiraiya belly-chuckled. "Lets see if we can get some more sake over here, oh! I'll just sit here next to you!"

"You old pervert! Sit down!" She laughed and pushed the red-faced hermit away. "Kakashi was saying something…" She smiled, only slightly darkening the jovial mood Jiraiya was trying to set. "Besides, the waitress just brought a new bottle…" She poured some sake for both of them, and surprisingly even Kakashi indulged.

"Probably bracing himself." Shinju frowned inwardly. Well, she guessed he'd better have some more alcohol in that case.

A deep, dark, starry night settled around them, and soon most of Konoha was asleep. With a somber face, Shinju set down her fifth cup, and Kakashi sipped on his cold tea expectantly. Jiraiya leaned back nonchalantly, looking almost asleep but actually giving the other two an all-clear signal.

"Four years ago," She began "after Sasuke had already been brought back to Konoha, Orochimaru made his final decision to use my body as his next vessel. I'd grown increasingly stronger, and since I'm a woman, my small frame allowed for quick movement. Those two combinations are the recipe for a powerful shinobi. Even though stamina-wise I could never compete with a jinkuurichi like Naruto or Gaara, with speed on my side, that could be overlooked and at least there is the possibility of a fast escape in a bad situation.

"Unfortunately for Orochimaru, I had no particularly special abilities to speak of, aside from the cursed seal that he supplied me with. Luckily for him, he anticipated that Sasuke was not an appropriate vessel, towards the end of his stay with Orochimaru the seal had taken everything away from Sasuke, and he laid like something dead. Within a few years, he would be. As a shinobi, his life had ended long before we 'rescued' him.

"But that's old news. Since Orochimaru knew that Sasuke was dying, he wanted to keep the one thing that he had wanted from the Uchiha in the first place."

Shinju closed her eyes and pressed her fingers lightly into them, taking a shallow breath that caught on the way out.

"Kabuto surgically removed Sasuke's eyes from him before he was 'rescued'. Then, Kabuto replaced the Uchiha's eyes with someone else's, keeping the sharingan in a living container near Orochimaru. When it was decided that I was the next container, those sharingan became mine. To avoid soiling any more of your armor, Hatake," the kunoichi smiled weakly, "They have a mangekyou form. I am also sorry to say that Kabuto and Orochimaru did quite a bit of research in order to find out about the circumstances which allowed you to acquire your sharingan. Itachi had a lot of information about his former clan member."

Shinju glanced up from the now cold sake in her cup. Kakashi just sat, arms crossed with his chin to his chest, eyes closed. The only sign that he was listening came from the slightly visible crease in his brow.

"So, anyway, that's how I got them. Why did I get them before my mission to infiltrate Konoha and capture Kyuubi-boy?"

She paused slightly.

"To get to you, of course."

The words escaped in a whisper, and Kakashi looked up in time to see a tear fall from her jaw line to her black ANBU shirt. In the next moment, she was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Fire of Will

Chapter 5: A Special Mission?!

-----------------------------------

Shinju sat in the dango shop again, sipping some cool tea after a few hard hours of training. It felt good to kick back for a bit, to relax. Lately, Kakashi seemed to want answers to so many questions… none of them the ones she wanted to answer. She let a small sigh escape her lips, pretending for the hundredth time to blow on her already chilled tea.

Slowly, Shinju sipped the tea, letting the earthy flavor roll over her tongue. She remembered the academy, she was only six or seven, and Kakashi had already been a Chuunin.

"He must be pushing 30… no, he's a little older…" she murmured.

She set her tea down and slouched on the table, head in hand.

"I'm 25…"

She sighed again. After six years out of the village, she was fairly avoided by the bachelors in the village. Maybe because of the life she had led she wouldn't make a good mother? Probably. But a good lover? Yes… She could hope.

_I'd do anything…_ She'd already given everything to Konoha, and the only person who seemed to care was Tsunade… which was as good as Shinju could hope for, being the shinobi she was.

But, she wanted something more from Konoha, she wanted…

"Ano- ano sa…" a sweat-dropping Naruto, very reminiscent of his years as a genin, poked her ANBU tattoo.

"Aka-san…"

She grabbed Naruto by the collar, waving her fist in the air and screaming.

"WHY DID YOU SNEAK UP ON ME, YOU SNEAKY LITTLE SNEAK BASTARD?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY?!"

_I walked right up to her…_ Naruto thought, still sweat-dropping.

"Tsunade… baa-san wants you…"

"You smell terrible, twerp. Do you know what a shower is?" Shinju dropped him on the ground. "Is that all you know how to do? Sit around drinking and peeping at Tsunade when you think she's not looking? Pretending she doesn't know you're there? You're an embarrassment. And don't even think about saying you were helping Jiraiya gather information or some stupid excuse like that! Get off your ass and take a shower, or go train somewhere…"

Naruto frowned. "She said it was urgent…"

"I'm going!" She downed the remaining tea, slammed some cash onto the table, formed a hand seal and disappeared with a small 'pouf'.

"Scary…" Naruto muttered and stalked off.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­-----------------------------------

Shinju materialized just in front of the Hokage's door and tapped.

"Come in!"

Shinju pushed the door open and stood ramrod straight in the Hokage's presence. Hatake stood with his nose in his book…

"Hatake." She hissed under her breath. He looked up as if suddenly aware of his surroundings and snapped the little paperback shut, storing it in his weaponry pouch.

"This mission," began the Hokage with a raised eyebrow, "although seemingly trivial, is vital to our village's position. I need you two to track down and assassinate the wife of the feudal lord of Waterfall, and bring his daughter back to Konoha. Unfortunately, this is actually Sand business, but as there are no available Hunter-nins to carry out this mission, I have been forced to request this of you two, my top ANBU shinobi, for this mission. After the girl is brought back here alive, this will become official Sand business. For now, you will both be granted temporary Hunter-nin status. You leave Konoha in twelve hours."

"Hai!" The two ANBU rang in unison, and disappeared, the rustling curtains the only clue left behind of their presence.

-----------------------------------

One hunter sent another a silent signal through the fog. The two had been on the move for two hours already, yet the sun was barely beginning to cut through the dense fog of fall in Fire country.

The hunters stopped on a dime at the next branch.

"There's more to this than she mentioned." A murmur escaped the female hunter's lips, her voice further masked by the unpainted porcelain covering her face.

The other hunter cocked his head sideways ever so slightly. They needed to move… Then he felt it, two chakras moving extremely rapidly.

"Follow me." She whispered. "You'll be fine."

They darted off in a westerly direction, towards Sound, and every so often Shinju looped back behind Kakashi and masked their trail. She led him through twists and over turns, down rivers and streams and even up a small cliff.

Night began to fall, and they needed to camp. Both of them were getting exhausted from all of the running, and Kakashi was somewhat mentally exhausted, what with having only a vague idea of who they were running from. Shinju frowned. The two chakras were no longer detectable, most likely they were trying to track the Hunters' winding trail.

"One more hour…" she exhaled.

The two stopped near some boulders.

"This is Sound territory." It wasn't a question.

Shinju nodded. "I know my way around."

She formed a simple hand seal and whistled softly with her face pressed to the ground. A rough ramp going down into the earth formed next to her head, reaching a depth of about five feet. She motioned for the silver-haired shinobi to follow her and they walked down into the earth. She placed both of her hands on the dirt wall at the end of the ramp, and let out a low hum for about five seconds. A small cave appeared as the dirt parted and the pair entered. As soon as Kakashi was inside, she performed seven hand seals in rapid succession and the earth closed up behind and above them, leaving no trace.

Kakashi performed a small katon jutsu, creating a fist-sized ball of flame that hovered between them at eye level. Removing his mask, Shinju could see the confusion and anger on his pale face.

"Who exactly is following us?" Kakashi asked with almost metered control.

"Akatsuki." was her simple response. She took a long drink from her canteen. "They've been after me for years, ever since I got the sharingan and killed those four sound-nins." She said plainly and emotionlessly.

"Why do they want to kill you? How long have you known?" Kakashi had a look on his face that said "_man, I can't believe this…"_

Shinju looked him in the eyes, silently assessing and re-assessing him.

She pulled her mask to the side, keeping her hand on it.

"They don't want to kill me – yet." She paused. "Put your mask on." She whispered, replacing her own.

"I've known since this morning, around five, when we started running. It's possible that this entire mission is a trap."

She paused for another thirty seconds or so. "Please, drink some water and take a nap. We're going to take some soldier pills, and we'll be in Waterfall by dawn to confirm the status of the mission. You have one hour."

He knew she'd stay awake, feeling for the Akatsuki, and he trusted her to awaken him in the event that they neared the leaf-nins' underground camp. Silently, he drifted into an uneasy nap.

-----------------------------------

"Do you think she knows we're following her?" The tall mist-nuke-nin asked his partner, grinning broadly.

"Kisame," The shorter, yet equally intimidating young man murmured, "She already sent us her letter of refusal. Look at the trail she left us."

Her trail had led them to the heart of Sound country, where the last Uchiha finally lost it. He stood on the edge of a small ravine that had a spring running out of a crevice at the bottom.

"She knows what she's doing, she knows her way around, yes." He said half to himself, "But this is our first outright invitation. She still has one more chance, we'll get her face to face next time. Let's let her think about it." His fingers toyed with his necklace absently and the wind caused his red and black cloak to billow around him.

-----------------------------------

Shinju and Kakashi raced home, adrenaline and something like fear pumping through their veins.

"_Shinju was right,"_ Kakashi thought breathlessly. _"We could have taken one on, maybe. But two… and they always travel in pairs…"_

As they reached the gates of Konoha, they tore across the rooftops to the Hokage's open window. Kneeling on the floor, Shinju looked up, ripping the unmarked mask from her face.

"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade stood and slammed her palms on her desk, looking at the pair with a mixture of shock and disappointment.

"What are you doing here?" she half-shouted at them.

The pair stood. "Mission aborted. Someone in the Sand has betrayed us. Maybe you should check your mission credentials a little more carefully." Shinju spat out, "You almost got both of us killed. If it wasn't for Orochimaru, we would be in your office in pieces right now."

Tsunade had an open-mouthed look of shock plastered on her face.

"Akatsuki followed us from the village, and drove us deep into Sound country. If I didn't know my way around, Hatake and I would most certainly be dead."

Tsunade's look hardened and she sat pensively at her desk, eyes boring into Shinju's downcast face. "Which Akatsuki?"

Shinju faltered and shifted her weight.

"Uchiha and the missing mist-nin."


	6. Chapter 6

Fire of Will

Chapter 6: Necessary Measures

-----------------------------------

Hands shoved deep in her pockets, Shinju leaned casually against the doorframe of the famed ramen shop.

_Naruto should be here soon…_

Right on cue: the blonde's lanky shape popped out over the horizon of the dusty street. The late afternoon sun's light almost reflected off of his hair, setting it ablaze.

"Aka-san!" he yelled, jogging toward her with a carefree air. "I'm so glad you wanted to eat dinner today, usually only Chouji will eat ramen with me, but he's on a mission. Well, anyway, I'm glad!" He stood laughing, one hand behind his head and the other still waving even though they were an arm's length apart. _What a great smile…_ the thought brought a grin to even her hardened face.

"Let's eat, runt!" She ruffled the taller boy's hair as if he was a child, and he grinned stupidly.

"Ha ha ha," they both laughed and entered the brightly curtained shop.

"Two pork miso ramen with extra naruto!"

"Coming right up!" The old man looked at the pair warmly. "Shinju, it's been too long since you last dropped by! I remember when you were at the academy, running around causing trouble like this one." He looked fondly at Naruto and managed to make their nostalgic thoughts sparkle with the happiness of the current one.

Shinju blushed a little as Naruto sat in mock-shock next to her, mouth hanging open and gasping, "Nooo, you didn't!" to Shinju

"Haha, nice joke, oji-san!" Naruto pushed Shinju playfully and turned as Ayame served them the large, aromatic, steaming bowls.

"No, Naruto, she really was just like you. Maybe worse, ha ha!" The old man laughed. "Right, Shinju?"

Her smile widened a bit and finally reached her eyes. "He's right." She said softly, looking down at her colorful dish. "I was a little tomboy. A trouble-maker." She looked a little bittersweet as she remembered.

Naruto made a face.

"Come on, Naruto. Everyone has good and bad to remember, I'm not _just_ a killing machine," She laughed. "Are you?" She smirked at him, somewhat boyishly, and punched him on the arm. Finally, they turned to their now not-so-boiling-hot food.

"Itadakimasu!" They shoveled mass after mass of the steaming, thick noodles into their mouths. The two shinobi devastated five bowls apiece, patting their bellies satisfactorily.

"Man, I need to come here more often…"

Both she and Naruto stuck their faces into the bowls so they could get to the tasty juice at the bottom, and the tiny noodle pieces. Setting the bowl down one-handedly, Shinju wiped her face with the back of her long ANBU glove. Naruto burped and unzipped his lightweight jacket to reveal a very stretched out Jounin shirt with a very round belly peeking out from underneath.

"No wonder that seal leaks chakra…"

Shinju smiled broadly, and the pair laughed heartily over the tactless joke. Shinju set down her chopsticks along with a generous amount of money.

"Gochisou sama deshta!"

She tugged at Naruto's sleeve and they walked out of the shop together, into another beautiful evening in Konoha, the sun just getting ready for bed.

"You really didn't have to Aka-san…"

"It's ok. I wanted to," She smiled a small smile. "Where can I spend all that money I make on our S-class missions anyway? Why not spend it on my little brother?"

Naruto threw her a sidelong glance, sweat-dropping. "_Little Brother?_" he wondered.

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hard-ass!"

"Sometimes, people choose to show sides of themselves that make others think a certain way about them." Shinju looked warmly at him. "You of all people should know that, Naruto."

He nodded slightly. He could understand that, but purposefully not wanting friends? That sounded like someone he had known before, someone from another life…

"Why would _you_ want to do that?"

Shinju sighed as they reached the KIA memorial, the black obelisk a shimmering orange and purple in the sunset. She turned to the young ANBU.

"Because of this, shinobi like Kakashi and I feel the same way. So many of our generation have their names carved here on this stone. I hope you don't have to feel as deeply as we do about it, but I want you to know, I want you to think about this, Naruto." She looked soulfully into his eyes. "Sometimes, you are just afraid of losing one more person, of letting someone get too close to you. Of being the person erased from the lives of the ones you love."

She breathed deeply of the air of the oncoming night. Crisp, and cold. Fall in Konoha. More and more stars appeared as she looked up.

"How do you think Sakura felt about you when we were in that hole together with Orochimaru? How did you feel about Sakura?" She looked back at the memorial and put her hands in her pockets. "That is the feeling I'm avoiding." She ended in a mumble, talking to herself, almost.

"Oh." Naruto shifted his weight, not knowing what to do or say. Why was she telling him all of this?

Shinju crouched next to the stone, running one hand over the rough, carved surface. So many names from recent years…

"Thank you, Naruto." She stood and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you ever need anything, you can find me at Ichiraku." She smiled again, a small smile warmer than any previous she'd ever given him. The faint light of the moon shone in her eyes, and Naruto smiled back, seeing their sheen of unshed tears. With one last pat, Shinju turned and walked away, hands back in her pockets.

-----------------------------------

Shinju reclined on her roof, arms behind her head, face turned towards the stars. A week and a half had already gone by, and she hadn't left the village once. Sighing, she sat up. She had to know… she jumped down, hoping he was still awake.

Stepping lightly along the path, she finally came to the clearing and found who she was looking for. Noting her presence, the shock of silver hair turned slightly, but the rest of his body remained unmoving, standing relaxed in front of the memorial as she had seen him do hundreds of times in years before. Shinju padded up beside him and also stood, staring down silently at the tribute to her fallen comrades, their only remains engraved into the moonlit obsidian.

Several minutes passed. Shinju finally turned and whispered,

"_Kakashi._"

He turned and looked at her back, noticing the curve of her form-fitting uniform against the blue-white of the grass in the clearing. Suddenly, she threw herself onto his chest, hands curling up around the back of his neck and fingers lacing themselves into his thick, diamond strands. Kakashi wrapped his arms around her tightly in response, in a welcoming embrace. Her silent tears continued to flow and her shoulders heaved with each noiseless sob. It was all pouring out onto his chest; Kakashi could feel each hot tear drop onto his shirt and chill in the night air. The years of torture at Orochimaru's hands, all of the pain of friends made and lost in battle. The guilt of not being able to protect the people you love the most. He felt the weight of her arms around his neck, felt the weight of the burden on her heart similar to that pulling on his own. He brought her closer, tilting his own face toward her neck.

"Shhh…" he stroked her hair in a fatherly sort of way. "Daijobu desu…"

She tilted her face upward, and the two locked gazes. Kakashi could _feel_ the pain written on her tear-streaked face hit his gut and twist around.

"Kakashi," she breathed again, and fought a sob down. "I love you."

Kakashi's mind raced and reeled, and instinct told him to push her away. Shinju could clearly see the confusion in his eye as he struggled with everything the words she finally said to him entailed.

_Please…_ she prayed silently as she pleaded with Kakashi's heart. _Please._

His gaze never wavered from hers, and as he calmed he placed both of his hands on her shoulders, breaking their embrace.

"I can't." He ground out, and for the first time in his life, he saw a genuine look of fear bloom in Shinju's eyes. She cried softly as she pushed Kakashi away, then she ran away from him, from the memorial, from everything she stood for, leaving a few shining drops clinging to his vest.

Kakashi touched them softly, as though they carried some fragile piece of the pained kunoichi, and a tear of his own rolled over the top of his mask into the grass at the foot of the memorial.

-----------------------------------

She leapt across the rooftops of the sleeping village silently, blindly. Shinju felt an emptiness in her chest like never before, one different from the one she forced there when she became a killer, one different from the one that the warmth of friendship and family had once touched. She felt broken inside, and her head started to spin as she finally made it through her window and collapsed on the wooden floor, sobbing loudly. It was as though all the years came up in a fountain, seeking escape at last. Her mind throbbed with memories of missions failed and missions completed, of every beating and rape in Sound, of everything she lived for torn from her in the one instant she finally let her guard down. Shinju dragged herself to the side of her futon where she kept her weaponry. Piercing her thumb, she watched as the thick red liquid slowly exited the wound, forming a large crimson drop. She turned around and knelt, smearing her blood on the wood, drawing a seal on the floorboards next to her bed. At the center of the seal, the character for love reflected the moonlight. Forming three simple hand seals, she pressed her open palm onto the character and impregnated the seal with a message encoded using her chakra. Only he could open this message now.

-----------------------------------

Itachi and Kisame watched from the tree outside of her house. How long would they go unnoticed? They watched as she performed some sort of jutsu on her floor. What in the hell was she doing?

Itachi didn't want to wait to find out. He watched as she took a firmer grip on her kunai, and wondered if she had detected their presence. She had long since stopped crying, thankfully. But if she intended to kill the pair, she would soon have a new reason to cry.

Shinju tightened her grip on the kunai in her hand. She couldn't be hurt anymore, she couldn't take anymore pain. This had just been a trigger, but now she focused on the moments that had just passed between her and Kakashi Hatake.

"_I wanted so little, so little… but it's all over now. I've ruined anything we might have had before. Kakashi, why can't you love me? If I can love, after everything I've been through…_

"_Kakashi…"_

She grasped the knife in both hands and swung it upwards, reached the apex of the arc and came back to slam the weapon down into her own throat, finally allowing her chakra with all of its killing intent to flare for one last time.

-----------------------------------

"Shit!" Itachi panicked for a millisecond before trying to make it into the room in time. As soon as she let that particular intent loose, he knew that their mission was in serious jeopardy. As he reached her profusely bleeding body, he inspected the self-inflicted wound and realized that she had nicked her carotid artery, and would be dead within about five or eight minutes if left unattended.

"Shit!" Kisame scowled at their target and crouched next to Itachi who was holding her and pressing on the bloody wound. "How the fuck did we know this was her next move? Pein's gonna be sooo pissed."

"She'll live. Hatake is coming, he must have followed her home. Let's get out of here, Kisame." Itachi exhaled smoothly, gently laying her down on top of her jutsu. He brushed her hair out of her face and let a finger lay on her slightly parted lips for a moment. _Warm breath…_

The pair disappeared.

-----------------------------------

Kakashi paused for a moment at the memorial, firstly out of shock at the events that had just transpired in his life, secondly to say goodnight to his fallen friends as he was about to leave the memorial. There was no way he would let her go home by herself, not in this condition, not after knowing her for so many years. He remembered Tsunade's words as he walked along the road into the main part of the village.

::flashback::

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to start assigning missions to her. We have no choice. All of you as Jounin understand the situation, I'm sure."

She had sat with her fingers interlocking, looking out from under that luckless diamond on her forehead.

"One of you is going to have to be paired with her."

Tsunade paused expectantly. The Jounin seated around the table all looked at each other uncomfortably. No one really knew that much about her, except that she was just an average shinobi, and that she had been captured and marked by Orochimaru. Actually, they were both reasons not to want her on one of their teams. Finally, reluctantly, Kakashi had volunteered.

"Thank you, Hatake. This meeting is dismissed. Hatake, I want to see you in my office."

He had followed her there, Shizune and Ton-ton trailing the two. Not knowing what she could possibly have in mind for him, he stood in his usual spot, his hand already straying towards a certain orange paperback… no. He checked himself.

"Kakashi, there are a couple of things that you should know about Shinju. She has changed, she is not the same kunoichi that you knew from the academy. I am granting her the same elite status that you have, which is part of why I am so glad that you volunteered to have her on your team." Her face twisted into something smile-like. "I thought you would ask for her anyway. Don't know why." She really did smile now. Then the smile vanished.

"_What a woman…"_ he remembered thinking. Talk about hard to read. Weirdo…

"Hatake, be careful around her. Never let your guard down. She is completely loyal to Konohagakure, I'm sure, but I'm not so sure about other things. During her stay with Orochimaru, she acquired powers that are almost unbelievable, powers that I would only expect from another Sannin." She paused here, pulling a bottle of sake out from a desk drawer. Shizune looked like she was about to say something, but shut her mouth when Tsunade glared at her. Ton-ton whimpered a pitiful 'pui!'.

"Shinju has an unmatched sense of duty to our village as well as courage and compassion. Her ability to maintain complete control in the line of fire is outstanding. What I'm worried about isn't her ability to succeed in missions or to survive in battle. What I'm afraid of is what goes on inside of her off of the field."

Tsunade took a long sip.

"The things that happened to her when she was in the Sound were less than pleasant. She doesn't sleep well, if at all. Somehow, she manages to continue with her life during missions and during the day without collapsing, god knows how. Her moods are extremely unpredictable, one moment she may be helping someone with something trivial like pulling weeds or cooking and the next moment she's staring into space or trying desperately to contain a killing aura within her chakra. She has never asked me for anything, only to allow her to be a shinobi and to keep a certain secret, but other than that she is fiercely independent. I don't suggest you interfere in a fight if she is attacked or picks one herself.

"My main point here is that you will have to put up with what comes your way as far as she is concerned. In regards to missions, you have the best on the field at your side. I'm just warning you to watch out for her more –_personal_ side. Depression is like a wire trap, Kakashi.

She paused here and made eye contact.

"All it takes is a trigger."

Kakashi just nodded and left at the time, but now he understood. After two years of seeing her only in action and paying attention only to the thin veneer that separated her inner turmoil from the rest of the world, he was now paying the price for letting his emotional guard down. For accidentally attacking her. He was the trigger. Yet he wondered, for how long had these feelings for him been real for her? Years? Months? A decade was even a plausible timeframe in this case…

Suddenly, as he walked past Naruto's place, he felt a killer aura flare.

And he recognized the signature.

_"Shit, I was right… I gotta get there in time!"_ Kakashi's inner self screamed at him and his body moved faster than he'd ever felt himself move in his life, driven by desperation and fear. As he neared the apartment, he could smell the blood, he could feel a certain… feeling… Somehow he was reminded of the day when, as a child, he had discovered his father's dead body and the suicide note that lay waiting for him by the futon.

"Masaka…" he whispered. Now it was Kakashi's test. Should he go into that apartment? What if he made it in time, if she was still alive… could he do something? If she was dead, what should he do? Kakashi didn't want to face this again, didn't want to see someone he cared for destroy themselves like this, like his father…

But he was already at her window, he was already kneeling by her body, he was already cradling her head in his arms, he was already screaming at her, cursing the blood that covered the floor, the kunai in her hand, the words she had said, himself. Her blood…

No… yes. It still flowed. Barely, but it did, out of the gaping hole she had torn in her neck. Kakashi panicked and adrenaline and instinct completely took over his body. He picked her up, wrapping one hand around her neck awkwardly, but he didn't care right now he had to get there, he had to get there right now right now right now…

He made it to the hospital where Shizune was on duty. Kakashi dumped Shinju on the desk and yelled at her, "Do something, do something right now, she's about to die! Shizune!"

Shizune was already inspecting the wound, mending the artery. She had a wide-eyed kind of look on her face, but there was no trace of fear or shock detectable in her features, just a kind of awe at the wound in Shinju's neck, and an almost worried look that said that she had been waiting for this to happen. Shizune looked up at Kakashi as she sealed the cut artery shut and understood. Tears flowed freely from the copy-nin's exposed eye, he looked at her for a long moment, then turned and stalked out of the hospital.


	7. Chapter 7

Fire of Will

AN: I know, I hate these things… I never put them here. But I thought you all should know that my inspirations for this chapter were the two songs, 'Get It Faster' by Jimmy Eat World and 'The Great Disappointment' by AFI. Also, 'Bibo no Aozora' from the soundtrack of Babel Sorry for going emo on all of you. Also, by this point you may have realized, somehow I don't think that I can turn this into a Kakasaku, I don't even think there _will_ be any romance in this story. Sorry, yaoi hopes have been dashed! But, what this is turning out to be is a great outlet for my _situation_. If you know me, you know what I'm talking about. ; -- Enjoy.

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Chapter 7: The Great Disappointment

Crouched on the hospital roof, she took a long drag from the slim, white cigarette. Smoke whirled about her like strands of gossamer, waiting to be touched only to be destroyed. As she exhaled, she looked up at the moon. _Cold._

Winter in Konoha. It came quickly this year, it was colder than usual for the temperate Fire country's mid-November. She'd been in the hospital for just under a week, and in that time, the village had fallen into that quiet, crisp wintry feeling. The sun set earlier, the children were nowhere to be seen after the early dusk. Lonely shinobi roamed the night streets in their light scarves, shoulders hunched against a cold only they felt. More people wandered into tea-houses during the onset of winter than bars, and the laughter from the nearest one played on her ears like a light breeze.

She sighed, pulling her navy cardigan closer to her chest, testing the air like a child to see if her breath would show.

_Someone else was there… was that Kakashi?_ She thought. Shinju had been trying to place who had been there, who had left that feather-light touch on her lips before she passed out from blood loss. _Hatake…_ she didn't even know that anyone had been near her apartment in her state, and a faint, dark fear burned in her heart as to whether or not he had discovered her message yet. But the fear never reached her face, or even came up past her collarbones. No, that would stay buried. Never again would she let fear be painted on her face as it was that night.

She looked down as she smashed the butt against the tiled roof, leaning against that hand after she flicked away the remains. Shinju closed her eyes, searching. _Damn, why didn't I… that person's chakra signature…_

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around. She would recognize that voice anywhere.

_He said… yes, no doubt. No doubt._

Kisame… she said under her breath, as she took a stand and headed towards her apartment, leaving her few bloodied belongings in the drab hospital suite.

---------------------------------------

Kakashi sat in the tree looking into her window, into her empty bedroom. Crouched there, he stared at his reflection on the glass. His heart empty, Kakashi reached up a hand to wipe off the sweat on his brow, he was thinking again.

In the moment that he looked away from his reflection to wipe his face he saw the blotched floorboards through the clear glass. Standing and jumping to the windowsill, he probed the window, not even thinking of what he was doing, and stood over those blotches. He'd seen… no, heard of something like this before, from Naruto. Crouched on his heels, he reached down and wiped his fingertips across the dried blood that had soaked into the wood. He immediately felt Shinju's chakra signature and pulled a kunai, looking about himself, only to find the room empty. Kakashi turned back to the floor and leapt away to the wall as he saw her.

Filmy, almost ethereal in appearance, Shinju stood before him, dressed in a black furisode.

"Hatake-san." The figure spoke to him, and looked questioningly at the now standing Jounin.

He waited a few moments, undecided, then answered the figure.

"Hai."

The figure smiled softly, almost beaming though her lips only turned up a fraction of an inch.

"Hatake-san, gomen nasaiyo." She smiled again. "I've loved you since I was a child, and as I became a woman, I had no time for those feelings. You know the life of a shinobi. I was too busy being noble."

He nodded slightly in understanding, he knew the feeling she referred to.

"After leaving Konoha," She said it delicately, as if she had gone on a holiday "I didn't want anyone to be hurt by me. I was afraid of myself, afraid of getting close. After seeing what happened to Sakura and Sasuke, I was afraid to hurt you, Hatake-san."

"_So formal,"_ he thought. _"So this is what she had in mind. It's hard to believe that when I saw her, she didn't look capable of this kind of behaviour."_

"I was surprised to discover that once I decided to disclose my intentions, you would push me away. Perhaps, you too, do not want me to be hurt. But now, you have seen the result of avoiding the pain we both wanted to escape, and of allowing ourselves to reveal our true feelings, as shinobi."

"Remember, Hatake. Shinobi rule #25, a shinobi never shows his tears."

His heart almost stopped. So many years ago, he has shot those same words out at Obito, scorning his soft-heartedness. He looked down slightly.

"Haha," Her laughter bubbled over like a fount of gold. "don't look down, Hatake-san. This is a piece of my soul, embedded here in a jutsu, that you are talking with."

He looked her in the eyes, and felt that this was the piece she had always wanted to show him. This was her love that she left in this place. He looked to her feet. In the way that the light radiated slightly from the form, the faint outline of that same kanji became visible.

_Love._

"That rule… maybe because I broke that rule, it became difficult for you to love me?" She laughed the idea off. "No, hardly. I know why you said you can't."

She looked ready to cry again.

"Hatake-san, tell her before it's too late for both of you. I want nothing more at this point, than to see you live out the rest of your life in happiness. There's no reason for this loneliness, Hatake-san, but fear."

"Shinju…"

He had nothing to say.

Shinju smiled again, so warmly that he felt hot under his mask. She stepped to him and held his hand, coming close to his body, as if wanting to be held again. He obliged.

"Why do you fear this?"

She looked steadily into his eyes, as a friend again, trying to make him see reason. Kakashi didn't answer, only looked into her eyes with equal intensity, and slight questioning.

"This is the last time you'll see me, Hatake-san," She whispered. "But I will always protect you when I can." She closed her eyes and leaned against him, Kakashi did the same.

He felt as if a cool breeze blew lightly against his body, and when he opened his eyes, he realized that her soul had dissipated.

_So beautiful…_ he almost wished that she really was dead, he felt at that moment as though someone with such a beautiful soul shouldn't be used as she was, should be kept in a temple somewhere, not in a dingy apartment near ANBU headquarters. He couldn't believe that this person was conditioned to kill, trained to destroy and carry out the s-class missions they had completed together. Moreover, he couldn't believe that this person had done what she had in that spot no more than five days ago. And he couldn't believe that the woman who had left him such a message, such a piece of herself, had done it in the state of mind she had done it in. In all of her anger and sadness, in all of her loss of control, she had summoned this part of herself for him.

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Shinju padded silently into her room, only to find a crouched Kakashi, head in his hands. She didn't say anything, barely even breathed, not from fear, but out of respect.

He finally looked up into her sad eyes. No words passed between them, there was only that moment of silence and he was back out the window, back down the street, back to the cenotaph where he let the tears flow to the grass before the stone.

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AN: Alright, I'll say it again, I hate putting these here. They disrupt the flow of the story. But this is going to have to be a two part chapter, I don't know why I just can't write it all in one. And, funny enough, I wrote this whole thing in about 2 hours including the AN at the beginning and that just goes to show you how the plot can twist around. Looks like I made the Kakasaku happen even though I didn't really know how! It just came out! Arhg, damn my stupid hands::beats self:: anyway, review please people, I have no idea what you all think, other than one person who personally told me ch.1 needs _help_. Its _special_. Haha.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Bingo

The tall mist nuke-nin stood next to his partner, surveying the hidden village from the top of its high wall. The latter crouched on the edge, weight balanced on the balls of his feet, forearms resting on his flexed thighs. The sunset reflected briefly on his hitae-ate, further pronouncing the dark line that divided the leaf village's symbol.

"She's preparing."

The mist-nin nodded, smiling slightly, revealing a pearly row of white, pointed incisors.

Itachi straightened, pulling his hands into his robe and poking one out the front.

"We'll wait a few miles out. She'll come to us."

Itachi formed one of his signature one-handed seals, and the two nins vanished noiselessly.

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She didn't care anymore. What anyone thought, said, did to stop her. Anyone who stepped in her way would be cut down. She broke a slight sweat as she gathered her few belongings, primarily consisting of weaponry, into her pack. Scrolls, two complete current issue ANBU uniforms, various kunai and shuriken, knives and tripwire, exploding tags. _Tools of destruction_ she thought wryly. Anyone who saw her packing all these things would think she was single-handedly going to fight a war with another hidden village. Shinju almost laughed. Zipping up the pack, she scooped up her last items from the floor and secured them to her uniform- her long and short katanas. Taking one last look around, she brought the cold, white mask to her face and propelled herself into the trees outside of her window.

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Shikamaru's head lolled slightly as he yawned. He leaned against the windowsill casually, and dull eyes stared at the trees across from his apartment window. It was good to be home from the front, nice to relax and laze for awhile instead of constantly keeping himself on edge…

His eyes narrowed minutely as he noticed a rustle in the trees that he was looking at.

Nara kind of knew what had happened in the apartment across from his, he didn't personally know the kunoichi, but he did know that… well she was a little _off_.

A light pat echoed in the room as Genma pounced onto Shikamaru's veranda. Turning, the lazy Nara sighed. _Shit…_ He crossed his arms.

"Jyaa, I'm not helping you."

"Don't you wanna see where she's going?" Genma smiled, but Shikamaru noted the slight unease in the older ANBU's tone.

"Tch," He sucked his teeth, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking at the ceiling, while slipping into his all-too-familiar 'I could care less' stance. "Mendokuse…" He sighed once more, straightened and walked, almost strolled, towards the older shinobi. They shot off of the railing together, in silent pursuit.

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Shinju knew as soon as she hit the branch of her tree, they were watching her. Even before then, there were others at her hospital door, there were strange shinobi near her apartment. She felt for those two who pursued her, she really did. _I won't kill them…_ she promised herself. _No reason to kill Konoha ninja… no, never I hope._

She reached the edge of the clearing around the KIA memorial and stopped, the two nins in pursuit stopped about a hundred meters behind her. Looking carefully for the copy-nin, Shinju finally jumped down from her perch. Slowly, as the night got mistier and colder, she walked to the cenotaph. She knelt and ran her fingers over the stone, over and over and over… She prayed to the kamis above that she would never put a name there.

"Oi."

She didn't move. _Nara._

A thin spike whizzed by her head and landed in the dirt across from her crouched form.

_Genma_.

"Mendokuse… What are you doing, kunoichi?"

"Just paying a visit to some friends, _Nara_." She put extra emphasis on his name. _This could get difficult with him around, and it so dark right now. This is dangerous now._

"What's with the senbon, asshole?"

Genma chuckled and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"You realize ANBU is on their way."

"You never were a good liar, Genma. They'd already be here." Shinju turned and swung her mask up onto the top of her head. "Besides," she pulled a kunai and dropped her stance a bit. "Would lazy-ass really be your first choice in help?"

Shikamaru sucked his teeth and Genma chewed thoughtfully on a new senbon. Brow creased, he looked coldly at Shinju. "It doesn't have to come to this, you know."

"I know it. You know it. The two of you might be able to stop me here and now, you made a good choice tonight." Shinju smiled widely, a crazed look creeping into her face. "Nara, you've got your kage mane, if you use it, I'll have no escape." She raised her kunai and dragged its point across her face and neck, creating a small line of red welts where it had touched her skin.

Shikamaru looked at her carefully.

"Or, I could just kill myself and avoid all of this trouble."

It seemed that was her best option in this situation.

"If I were to fight you in this situation, I'd normally lose."

Shikamaru huffed lightly. "No kidding."

"But, I'm desperate. And you have no backup. Even if Hatake were here, he wouldn't stop me."

Genma's mouth dropped open slightly. "Why the hell not?" He asked, never one to keep his mouth shut.

_Tactless moron…_ Shikamaru breathed deeply…

Shinju dropped the hand wielding the kunai to her side and lowered her head.

"Because," she raised her gaze slightly, focus shifting to the uneasy Genma. "I'd kill him." She bluffed. They would never know that was a lie, considering what she was about to do. She threw the kunai to Nara's feet, sending him leaping backwards a couple of meters while she morphed into the ground, forming hand seals for a genjutsu that would keep Genma under her control. At least she wouldn't let him get the best of her. She reappeared right under Shikamaru, who barely jumped away before the now illuminated chakra strings could attach themselves. He performed a hand seal.

"Special Kage Bunshin Defense Technique!"

Several Nara-shaped shadows appeared around him, and he was able to successfully dodge and counter the shuriken and kunai that flew at him, but when his kage mane eliminated her bunshin, he turned to Genma's aid.

"Kuso…" he was out of time. His attention was drawn sharply to Genma as the orally fixated nin let a blood curdling scream tear from his throat.

_Stupid. How could he let himself get caught in a genjutsu?_ Then Shikamaru saw it. Shinju was standing in front of the tree, her back to him. Tears were pouring down Genma's face and he was and screaming, breaths rasping in his throat, his eyes wide open, focused on her face. His body flexed in the genjutsu's bonds as he tried to escape. Shikamaru heard Shinju murmur,

"For the next 72 hours, this will be your existence."

As soon as it had begun it was over, and the genjutsu released, leaving Shiranui to collapse on the grass in a heap, in a drooling, exhausted heap, barely breathing.

Shikamaru was sure he didn't want to know what had happened. But he wasn't one to abandon a comrade, no matter what. All the same, cold fear gripped him and the hair on the back of his neck stood as he looked into the eyes of the woman who turned to approach him. He couldn't move a muscle, it was as if kage mane had been turned on him. He shook, trying to bring his hands to form some kind of semblance of a seal, trying to think, trying to breathe… He hadn't been this frightened since the first mission to retrieve Sasuke was assigned to him, when he thought that Chouji had died. He wanted even just to close his eyes and receive his death, to stab himself to end the intent to kill that permeated the air around him, the crackle of chakra, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but stare in fear.

_Mangekyou Sharingan._

Shikamaru knew there was no counter attack. He reasoned that now would be a good time to die as any, cringing inwardly.

Shinju crouched between Nara's legs and looked at him deeply, her sharingan piercing his core and tearing him apart with fear. The air was thick with it, the sound of Nara's strained pants the only thing cutting it. He waited for the painful tsukiyomi to wreak its work on him, getting a grip on his fear and confronting it. He thought of his mother, of Ino, of Chouji, his father, then Asuma, wishing to high heaven for a last cigarette.

Shinju put her hand out, running it over the terrified Nara's hair, pulling the tie out and entwining her fingers in the long strands, closing her hand around the back of his neck like a vise. She pulled his head close to her face, hot breath burning along his jaw line, bringing her lips to his ear. Brushing her cheek against his slightly, she whispered,

"_Run_."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Damage Done

Kakashi sat beside the hospital bed, slouched forward, forearms resting on relaxed thighs, waiting. His exposed eye glanced over the form of his best friend, who now reclined unconscious between the crisp sheets. Shikamaru sat on the windowsill, looking dully out to the creeping dawn, deep in thought.

_She said she would kill me if I had been there. Yet she let these two live. Was she serious? Serious enough to take up Akatsuki's offer…_ Kakashi sighed slightly before he could check himself. He'd been in Genma's place years before, comatose after the effects of Itachi's mangekyou had caused him internal damage as well as psychological damage that was almost irreparable, save for someone like Tsunade. Well, Genma was lucky that at least he wouldn't have to wait weeks for her to attend to his injuries.

The events of last night were fairly obvious, but with Shinju under such heavy guard, it was almost unbelievable that ANBU or at least other skilled Jounin didn't come to the pair's rescue immediately. Evidently, some sort of genjutsu had been set up around her home, and she had purposefully drawn Shikamaru and Genma into it, probably to use them to set an example to others who tried to interfere with her. But, Genma… Kakashi, as a sharingan user, had a slight advantage that had allowed him to survive and even recover from Itachi's attack. But Genma had no defense against such a technique, she must have deliberately not killed him, because he could have easily, and should have, died from the after-effects of the justu.

Shikamaru and Kakashi both started as Tsunade slid aside the door to the room. Wordlessly, her face a blank sheet, she strode to Genma's bedside and bent slightly at the waist as she placed her hand on his forehead, delivering healing chakra to the affected area. Several minutes passed, and Genma finally shifted and his eyes slowly opened.

"Tsunade-hime…"

"Save your strength, Shiranui. Once you have healed a bit more, I'd like to talk to you about last night, but right now your recovery is priority number one."

"H-hai." Genma exhaled tiredly.

"A week or so of rest and some psychological treatments will be in order, Shiranui. Since you managed to survive, all should be well. I've called our second best medic here from the front specifically to supervise your care in the coming weeks, considering that I will be occupied with… other matters." Tsunade shifted her weight slightly, looking to Shikamaru.

"I'd like to see you, and Hatake in my office. Please come with me." She turned to the exit.

"Tsunade-sama," Genma reached out slightly to her.

She turned from the door and faced the injured nin. A few small tears welled in his eyes as he tried to smile.

"Arigato…"

Tsunade smiled back and lingered on his face for a moment, then turned and walked from the room, while Shikamaru and Kakashi said parting words of encouragement to their friend.

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Kakashi followed the busty woman and the young Jounin through the maze of sterile corridors, clutching his dirty book in one hand and stuffing the other in his pants' pocket. As they descended the stairs, his ears perked slightly and his trained nostrils detected a faint scent of… jasmine? Hurriedly he stuffed the book in his pack (not really in the mood for a pounding) and stepped off the last stair into the lobby, looking as bored as possible, while trying not to scan the room. He hadn't seen her in more than a month, almost two. But he wouldn't let her think for a second that seeing her would affect him any more than running into Naruto at Ichiraku's would.

She briefly rifled through the file that the nurse at the lobby desk had just handed her, only checking to make sure that all the necessaries were there before asking for the file for Nara, Shikamaru. She paused only slightly as she received the file, recognizing the smells of sake and… dirty laundry? Turning, she looked up from the files in her arms only to see…

"Shishou! Ohiogozaimasu. I've only just arrived in the village, I left camp as soon as I received your message."

"Good, good, how are you Sakura? Have you been busy at the camp?"

Sakura smiled. "Nope, thankfully there hasn't been too much action on our side of the border lately, been mostly healing bites from Akamaru..." She winked and continued, "He's a real protector he is, always looking out for Hinata!"

The two women exchanged knowing glances garnished with almost identical smirks.

Sakura turned to Shikamaru and greeted him, following with something like, "You'd better be in my office, room 519, by 4 o'clock this afternoon, or so help me Nara, I'll find you…" she trailed off as she realized a third person completed the party.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, her face visibly brightening. "It's been forever!"

Kakashi looked up from what seemed like a stain on the tile he was analyzing and stuck his hand behind his head.

"Oh its you! Hi, Sakura." He flashed the medic his familiar eye-crinkle and shoved his hand back in his pocket, his heart racing in light of recent events.

"Sensei, now that I'll be around, we should get together with Naruto, my treat," she winked at the known cheapskate and went on, "is Shinju around by any chance, I wanted to talk to her about something, but I know you two get all the hard missions…" her usual happy smile faded as she caught Shikamaru's sigh and Tsunade's irritated look.

She looked from one to the other, finally searching Kakashi for an answer, but only receiving an indifferent shrug.

"What happened?" She directed the question to Tsunade, all business now. "Is she okay?" She asked, turning over in her mind her own brand of worst-case-scenario.

Tsunade stepped to her student, placing her hand on Sakura's shoulder, noting her student's visible lip tremble.

Softly, almost privately, she said to her, "Maybe you would like to come with us. There are some things you have to know anyway… now that you are here."

Sakura nodded briefly, and the four shinobi walked tall, all the way to the Hokage's office.

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The three nins alighted on the sand and paused at the edge of Mist. The sea shone before them in all its glory, reflecting gold and blue in the serene quiet of dawn. Two of the nins were clad in floor length black and red robes, and stood straight, forms hidden by the loose cloth. The third stood relaxed, weight shifted to one side, the black curves and lines of her uniform clearly contrasting with the pale blue sand, and identifying her as a member of Konoha's elite assassins. One hand rested on her hip and the other brushed her hair behind her ear as she stood, lips parted as for a kiss, mesmerized by the beauty of the sea; cold and black, yet nearly blinding her with its kaleidoscope of sparkling light. She ran her tongue over her lips, biting one almost to assure herself of her own existence in the face of such beauty. She had never been to the edge of Mist before, not once in her life. Yet now she stood, rendered nearly unconscious by the tantalizing breaths of salty air that her lungs now sponged oxygen from, that smell melding into one with that of the damp sand at her feet, the hypnotizing sounds of the water rushing to meet its companion the Earth as the tide came in, all calling her to dive in and become one with it, beckoning with every splash to immerse herself in its endless and freezing yet welcoming lover's embrace. She stretched her hands behind her and arched her back slightly, trying to breathe in the entire ocean, closing her eyes trying to memorize where she was in case she never came back.

Kisame chuckled lightly as he watched the young girl. "I used to sit here every morning, just to see this." He commented, looking back out to the water. He almost whispered, "It's like this every day… every dawn is like this."

She never took her eyes from the ocean. "I've never seen this much water." She whispered as the breeze again splayed her dark hair across her face, hiding her tears. "It's… beautiful." She finished.

Itachi sniffed.

"You and I will get along fine, kunoichi, just fine." Kisame asserted quietly.

(A/N: What can I say? I'm one of those people that loves water. Deviating from the story for a min., once I was at a conference in San Fransisco and I _jumped _into the ocean in a _business suit_. Yeah, I'm that crazy about water.)

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Sakura clutched the edge of her seat as Kakashi recounted the events of the previous week to her, knuckles whitening and face slightly twisting.

"I had no idea… Sakura did you know that she…" Kakashi couldn't end the question.

"No, Sensei. I… I didn't know that she was romantically inclined toward anyone… after Orochimaru… I wasn't sure she ever could find love. But Sensei, she was so strong, so strong… I never thought she would… that something like this would happen. I mean, not because of love anyway…"

Sakura looked away.

"She wanted revenge." She whispered.

Shikamaru looked up at the female ninja. "Revenge?" It all started to make sense. "Sakura, think really hard. What kinds of things did you two talk about last time you saw each other? I have a feeling she trusted you more than anyone else."

"Shikamaru, one of the last things she said to me was that we needed to get revenge. Against Orochimaru, against Kabuto," her hands tightened to fists. "I tried to fight her every time, I really did, tried to make her see that that's not the way!" Her voice escalated "That's what started this all, was revenge! If Sasuke… No, if Uchiha Itachi had never started this, none of this would ever have happened! And now… now… where is she if she's not in the village and her suicide attempt failed?!" Sakura was becoming more and more frustrated.

Tsunade stood and leaned down close to Sakura, stroking the girl's back. "Sakura calm down. You know more than anyone that this won't bring her back."

Sakura looked up from her knees to her teacher's face, bright eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Shishou…"

"Sakura, Akatsuki wanted her to join them. She went with Itachi." Tsunade tried to be soothing as the words dropped from her lips. She leant in and held Sakura, rubbing her back as Sakura broke into tears, hiding her face in her hands.

Kakashi looked away to the calligraphy hanging by the window and grappled with his inner self, confused by the Shinju he'd known for years, the Shinju he'd met in that bloody jutsu, the Shinju who'd nearly killed one of his closest comrades, and now the Shinju who broke the woman he loved. Angry, frustrated, sad, lonely; Kakashi was all of these at once. It was all he could do to focus on the sound of the clock ticking over those of Sakura's torn sobs, to keep from blowing the office to bits and to keep from kneeling on the floor and screaming, letting the tears he bit back so hard flow.

Sakura sniffed a final sniff.

"He's… he's still alive, Tsunade. She knows. Anko might know, but her seal is different. It's one-of-a-kind, an experimental one developed after the other kind killed Sasuke." She wiped her nose and looked directly at her Shishou who now sat on the edge of her desk, pouring sake for two.

"Arigato." Sakura murmured before she sipped. "She knows what kind of condition he's in and she knows when he moves. But she doesn't know where he is, even roughly. But through Akatsuki… Tsunade, I can see her planning, I see her logic. I _know_ her. She's going after him, and she won't let anyone, not even me, stand in her way at this point!" Sakura looked at Kakashi piercingly. "She sacrificed _everything_ last night for that goal, for her revenge, even you, Kakashi. That-"

"Then why did she drag us into it? Why did she attack Genma the way she did?"

Sakura's head whipped around to face Shikamaru as the words passed his lips. She paled.

"What?"

"That's the next part of the story. Tsunade had ANBU and Jounin around her apartment, 24/7, just to check on her. No other reason, she was just worried. But when Shinju left, Genma sucked me into trailing her with him. She confronted us at the KIA cenotaph, there were words, then there was an altercation between myself and a kage bunshin. By the time I freed myself up, Genma was caught in her mangekyou," Here Shikamaru paled slightly, but continued, "Screaming, just screaming a lot. No one heard us, she must have done something."

Sakura nodded, "She was in Sound for a long time, Shikamaru…"

"So I figured. After Genma collapsed, I thought he was dead, and I prepared myself for the worst. But…" He looked away ashamedly, "I was afraid." He whispered. "I didn't call for help, I couldn't. I couldn't move, when I saw those eyes, I knew it was over. I couldn't even make a seal, I just fell on my ass and tried to like… move…"

He shook his head.

"She came right up to me, right up to my face, she touched me, touched my hair, and told me…" He shifted.

"She told me to run."

Shikamaru leaned against the wall by the window and closed his eyes, sucking his teeth. "She just disappeared, and I didn't care, genjutsu or not, I was getting to the Hokage if it cost me my life. I grabbed Genma and came here, Shizune took us to the hospital, and the rest is history." He opened his eyes and looked straight at Sakura.

"That's why you're here, to take care of Genma. Because you know Shinju, you can help him recover."

Sakura sat open-mouthed. "She… she _hurt_ you? But, we're all together in this, this is a war…"

"Yeah, I know." Shikamaru sucked his teeth again. "This sucks. Anyway, it looks like we'll all get over this fairly quickly, we've seen worse on missions, the only reason this is such a big deal is because she's one of us."

"And she's elite. This is a big loss for the village, she and Kakashi were Konoha's number one elite team." Tsunade sighed and drained another cup of sake. "For now, you'll be on your own, is that ok, Hatake? That's what I really wanted to talk to you about anyway. I'm sending Naruto out with Neji and Shino for awhile. Hoping he'll learn to shut up for a change…"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama, that will be fine. I'm used to working alone anyway." Kakashi stood and made to leave.

"I guess that's it for this meeting. You two may go. Sakura, I'll accompany you back to the hospital and we can go over some of the finer details of Shiranui's case, I did the preliminary physical healing…"


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Sorry it's been forever, I had these written, but I had no internet connection! Also, the last chapter is done. Now its all about getting there….

Chapter 10: The Springtime of Youth

"Hey, hey baby, can I get some water then? Aww, come on! Come back!"

The door slammed. Four days had gone by, four days stuck in this box, and it was starting to get on Genma Shiranui's already frazzled nerves.

"Man, every time I ring that bell that bitch shows up…" Genma wanted something else… yeah, more water would be nice but…

He decided to reach for the bell again.

He pushed the button over and over like a child, amusing himself just by making it click. _I'm gonna lose it in here… what time is it? Only 11:00 am?!_

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a clipboard to the face. He looked up expecting to see that blonde bombshell that kept getting pissed at him looming over his bed, instead he saw his former teammate, Shizune, frowning at him in a most displeased manner.

"Hey, hey Shizune! What's up?" He grinned broadly, happy at finally having someone he knew to talk to.

Shizune pursed her lips and hugged her clipboard close to her heart.

"Um…" _Say something, or you're going to look like Hinata! Say something!!!! _"You… You are what's up…" She murmured. "What do you need so desperately that you have to ring that bell like a six year old?" But it sounded more like she was complimenting him than scolding him.

Genma cocked his head at her like he didn't get it. _Dude, she's acting weird…_ "You ok, Shizune?"

Inner Shizune was freaking out. _I haven't seen him in months… he's so toned… I could say he needs an exam… No, right, he just had one this morning… _She could feel herself breaking a slight sweat on the back of her neck, and she turned her eyes to the edge of his sheets. "Ge- Genma, Um yeah, I'm ok, I'll just go check on… the um… the Sakura, yeah, she should be here, where is she…? He he." She blushed deeply and fled the room.

Genma lay limply in his bed, not bored for once. He stared blankly at the ceiling, chewing thoughtfully on the ever-present senbon.

"Shizune… likes me?"

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Kakashi sat on a stool at Ichiraku's nervously, staring at his hot tea, tapping his thumb against the counter, his other hand pulling at the frayed bindings that kept his kunai holster in place.

He thought again, for the hundredth time that day, about Shinju, then about Sakura.

Sakura should be here any minute… Naruto was supposed to meet them too, but Neji's team had gotten a border patrol assignment, so he would just have to wait until later.

A pink blur appeared in Kakashi's peripheral vision, and a cheery voice greeted him, "Hi, Kakashi-sensei!"

She plopped into the stool next to his.

"Where's Naruto? Did Tsunade send him on a mission?"

"Hn." Kakashi had calmed his heart from the previous day, but the butterflies were whizzing around in his stomach again…

He pulled down his mask with super speed and sipped some tea to whet his whistle while Sakura looked to the chopsticks she reached for.

The next song came on the radio and Kakashi choked a little on his tea. Sakura joined in… wiggling her butt to the beat…

_I'm bringin' sexy back…_

Loudly, Kakashi suggested that they order already, and cut her off, getting two large bowls of pork and veggie ramen. The old man smiled, and changed the station, noting Kakashi's distress.

Kakashi steeled himself and looked sideways over his tea to the beauty sitting next to him.

"How are you?"

"I'm good. I mean, besides all this stuff that's going on."

"Hn."

He turned back to the counter, watching the old man strain the noodles from the pot. _What can I say?_

"Hey Sakura, umm, I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

Kakashi coughed.

"Umm, I haven't been on a mission in awhile, I was wondering if you'd like to do some training with me, since I mean, I don't have a, I mean, anymore. You know?"

"Sure!" Sakura smiled widely and turned to the steaming bowl that was being placed in front of her, successfully hiding her confusion. _Is Kakashi-sensei ok? He sounds… flustered. "Let me try something"…_ Inner Sakura wheedled. "I'll bring Ino!"

"Oh…" Kakashi floundered, grasping at straws. "Is she still in the village?

"Ha ha, oh yeah!" Sakura smiled so wide it hurt. "I forgot, she got married to that Sand boy!" She cocked her head and giggled.

Kakashi felt a light sweat break under his hitae-ate. _She's being weird._

Sakura felt a light sweat form on her back and run down to her lower spine. _He's being really weird._

"He he, well, hot ramen sure is the best thing to warm up your insides on a cold day!" Sakura smiled softly and ate her ramen in the most ladylike way possible. She sighed. "Oh my god… this is soooooooooo much better than the rations at camp. There's no comparison, this is wonderful, oji-san!"

"I'm glad you are enjoying it! Here, have some extra noodles, you two, work hard and thank you for protecting our village." He imparted as the steaming noodles plopped into the broth in the two shinobis' bowls.

The pair ate their second helpings in comfortable silence, occasionally smiling at nothing.

Finally, the last bit of broth was slurped up and the quiet was broken.

"It was very nice seeing you, sensei. Thank you for coming to meet with me!" Sakura smiled warmly.

Inner Kakashi frowned inwardly. _Things happen so fast. Oh well._ He almost pouted on the outside.

But as luck would have it, as the two stepped out of the curtained shop, a light snow began to fall, and as a result, it was darkening rather quickly.

The two looked at each other, neither wanting to capitulate to their inner voices.

Finally, Kakashi offered.

"I'll walk you home."

Sakura nodded, and flushed slightly beneath her scarf. The two walked side by side, close enough to hold hands, but each keeping their own firmly in their respective pockets. The snow began to fall heavily, but Kakashi didn't shift his gaze or say a word as they passed his apartment; however much he wanted to invite her in for coffee, he didn't want to be forward at all with her. He wanted her to decide where they should go with their feelings. The frozen flakes began to squeak under their feet, a signal of unusual cold overtaking Konoha this year.

Sakura stopped and turned to her sensei as they reached her four-story apartment complex. Her eyes shone as they lingered on Kakashi's. Suddenly she coughed and pulled out her key, turning to the outer door, trying to hide the fierce blush creeping up her face. After pushing the door open a crack, almost as an afterthought she turned partways towards him, slightly surprised to see him still standing in the fast-falling snow, in the dark, watching her go into her complex.

"You must be cold. Would you like to come in and have some coffee?" She blurted. Inside she prayed for what she didn't know. _Maybe you should pray for some common sense?_ Inner Sakura shot scathingly at her. _Since when do you have feelings for random guys?_ Sakura stood at her door open-mouthed, eyes glazing over. _He's not random! Shut up! He's my… oh no…_ She blinked and snapped her mouth shut. _SENSEI…._

Kakashi stood dumbfounded, half-lidded eye glazing over._ Is she ok? Why is she making those faces? Did she just ask me if I was cold? I mean if I wanted coffee? Say no, say no!_

"No, thank you, I'd better be getting home…" Kakashi sighed inwardly and turned, only to turn back briefly to wave and send his former student a signature eye-crinkle.

"Oh, of course sensei, I understand, have a good night!" Sakura finally relaxed and ran inside her apartment building.

Kakashi crunched and squeaked through a couple of blocks of snow before he turned around and walked slowly to the cenotaph.

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But she didn't understand. After dashing up the stairs two at a time, she bolted into her apartment and slammed the door shut, leaning against it and sliding to the bottom in a heap, laughing aloud, then nearly choking on the tears that gathered behind her eyes.

_Is this wrong?_ Sakura grappled with herself as her breaths caught in her throat. _There's no denying what I'm feeling, I won't even try. But… for how long have I felt this way?_ She delved into her memory, thinking back to Gaara's rescue. _Before then? Maybe… no, I don't think so… I don't know._

She hid her face in her knees and hugged them in that dark room. She had started to like him long before that chapter of her life. From the day that team 7 had reunited and Naruto had come back from training with Jiraiya, Sakura had seen her former sensei in a new light. More than seven years had gone by since that day, her sensei was now 31, Sakura found that she was dismayed at herself, she was only 23. _Is eight years too much?_ Her brow wrinkled inside of her home-made cave. She squished her eyes against the cold, wet knees of her pants.

_What would he say if I approached him? No, I couldn't possibly do that. Why am I thinking this now anyway!? Did I somehow sense before that she loved him too?_

Sakura fought the tears that now threatened earnestly to drip. _Poor Shinju. I wish I could have done something. But, that wasn't my fault._ Sakura sniffed._ She made that decision on her own…_

Without bothering to turn on the lights, Sakura turned up the heater and changed into her flannel pajamas, curling up with a pillow in bed and crying herself to sleep, all the while thinking about Kakashi.

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Snow covered the base of the monument, and dusted the angled sides. Kakashi stood as usual, with his hands in his pockets, thinking back to the night he met with Shinju in her apartment, the memory already blurring in his mind as though seen through the tears of years gone by.

"_Why are you afraid of this?"_

Kakashi closed his eyes, fighting the very real tears that threatened to burst their barriers.

_I'll make a promise…_

"…_There's no reason for this loneliness…"_

_But how can I tell her? I can't, I just can't…_

"…_I want nothing more than to see you live out the rest of your life in happiness…"_

_You gave me everything, even showed me where my heart belongs… How can I thank you…_

"_Hatake-san, tell her…"_

_Tell her…_

"I'll tell her." He whispered to the snow-covered stone.

Kakashi smiled under his mask as he turned away and made his way to his apartment, already formulating a plan in his head.

The snow blanketed over Konoha, softening every street and rooftop into a pregnant expanse of quiet waiting.

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Kakashi sat up in his bed, sunshine pouring through the window.

_It's late…_

He closed his eye and leaned against the wall behind the bed. He tried to imagine Sakura sleeping, and successfully conjured a fuzzy image of a sleeping woman, rosy cheeks, tousled hair, parted lips. Opening his eyes, he leant forward and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, shaking his head.

_It will be awhile yet before I wake up to that…_

Kakashi sighed. It would be a long day.

He stumbled into the bathroom, giving himself a once-over in the mirror before looking for his hairbrush.

_I'm sure it's somewhere around here…_

He dug through a pile of dirty laundry and various hairsprays under the sink (_What are these clean socks doing under here?_), checked the shower (banging his head on the door) "Shit!", and finally found that it had fallen into the dusty space in between the toilet tank and the bathroom wall.

"Yech…" He muttered under his breath while trying to get the nasty dust off, scrubbing the offending brush with soap and his hands. Finally, the brush reached a satisfactory state of clean (for Kakashi), and he tried to run it through his disheveled hair. Despite his efforts, it didn't really work. He gave up and wet his hands as usual, finger-combing the mess to the side. He peeled off his mask to shave, and decided that it was time for a new one… _I really shouldn't sleep with it on… smells drooly…_ Kakashi threw it into the growing pile between the toilet and the shower. Then he flexed his shoulders and set his hands almost too slowly on the edge of the sink as he realized that was his last one.

"Shit."

Yeah, this was gonna be a really, really long day.

-------------------------------------------

Sakura poked her hand out from under her comforter and slammed it onto the alarm clock, breaking it into about fifty pieces.

"Great…" she muttered from under the blankets, and rolled out, stepping gingerly to the bathroom. She grabbed her toothbrush and started her morning routine, deciding that today it would be a good idea to put her hair up. She twisted her thick locks around her hand, then twisted them further into a bun at the back of her head.

"Nice." She smiled at herself in the mirror, turning this way and that, then frowned and started sticking pink bobby pins into all sides of it, finishing it off with a couple of small black clips.

"There we go…"

She was interrupted by a timid knock at her door. She turned and opened her mouth, then looked down to her pajamas.

_No way am I answering the door in this!_ Inner Sakura declared.

She grabbed her robe from the hook on the door and ran to the door.

"Coming!"

For a split second she thought about Kakashi as she turned the bolt, but when she pulled the door open, she found that the paper boy was there instead.

"Oh…" She almost frowned.

"Do you want us to renew your subscription, Ms. Haruno…"

"Oh, yeah, I'll drop by the office today, thank you very much." She snapped and snatched the paper from him, slamming the door in his face.

Sakura turned the deadbolt and leant against her door, sighing.

_He doesn't even know what apartment you live in…_ Inner Sakura reasoned.

"I know…" Sakura sighed again, then marched into the kitchen to start breakfast.

_It's gonna be a long day…_

-------------------------------------------

_Winter in Konoha…_ Kakashi grunted softly as he pulled a sweater over his head.

_Last night it was freezing and snowing, today's a melty, warm mess…_

Kakashi took the lone mask he had hand-washed for today out of the dryer, and pulled it over his head, finally feeling relaxed, as opposed to watching out every second for Naruto at his window or apartment door like a paranoid freak.

He stepped out into the humid air, turned and locked his door, and walked down the two flights of outdoor stairs to the muddy street below, humming quietly. Today was his big day.

He made his way through the streets of Konoha, finally arriving at his destination: the Yamanaka's flower shop. Ducking into the building, he paused slightly in surprise as he noticed Ino, then greeted her with "Ohiou, Yamanaka-san!", shooting her an eye-crinkle.

"Ohiougozaimasu!" She returned, smiling brightly.

Although the selection was a bit slimmer during the winter months, he knew exactly what he wanted and was sure they'd carry it.

"Mrs. Yamanaka, I'm looking for some nice daffodils. You wouldn't happen to have any, would you?"

"Absolutely, Hatake-san! Right this way, let me wrap them for you. Would you like something else?" She smiled again as she looked carefully to the copy-nin's eye.

Kakashi was looking at some beautiful roses and got distracted. "Um… what? No, no, that will be fine, thank you." He felt a slow blush creep up under his mask, and he found himself wondering if he shouldn't get her some pretty roses instead. Almost before he knew it, the busty blonde woman was next to him, holding the flowers behind her back and touching her shoulder to his.

"Are these for a _girl_?" She prodded, putting emphasis on the word 'girl'.

He looked sideways at her from under his usual half-lidded gaze. "Maybe. Probably." He frowned. "Ino, how much will they be?" He turned away from the roses and stuck his hands in his pockets.

She looked slyly at him.

"$20.00."

Kakashi's eye widened.

"What?!"

She raised a finger. "That is, unless you'd like to tell me who they're for!" She smiled at him in a sickeningly sweet way.

"I can't believe this," He muttered under his breath. "Who do you know that likes daffodils?" He grumbled.

"Hee hee… It's Sakura, isn't it?" She laughed out loud. "I knew it! You like Sakura? Kakashi, you're a little crazy, you know that?" She poked his chest, handing him the flowers at the same time. She laughed again. "It'll be good to see you two together. You'll make a nice couple."

Kakashi smiled weakly, eyelid drooping further.

"$4.00." She smiled sweetly again.

Kakashi silently doled out the cash and stalked out of the place.

_I'll be damned if I ever go there again…_

-------------------------------------------

Sakura sat outside of the dango shop on a bench, quietly sipping her warm tea and flipping through a thick volume about psychological damage and therapy, barely even looking at the diagrams, much less reading the words. She finally sighed and gave up, tossing the heavy book onto the small table in front of her and focusing on her reflection in the teacup, when she heard a light shuffle in front of her.

"Yo."

She looked up, startled, and gazed at the man in front of her. Kakashi wore all black, a light sweater taking the place of his usual flak vest, and more importantly, a happy look in his eye. Then she noticed that he was hiding something behind his back.

"He… Hello, Kakashi… sensei." She forced herself to smile, fighting against the butterflies that zoomed around in her stomach.

Kakashi broke into a light sweat all over his body. _I'm gonna die…_

He waved at her. "How are you?"

She paled and smiled primly, trying to conceal her nervousness. "I'm doing great, just studying up to help Genma out…" Her smile dissipated. "What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?" She cut to the chase.

He coughed. "I'm just… I'm just kind of around here sometimes…" _Doh! _He mentally slapped himself on the forehead.

"Oh. Ok, then." Sakura looked back at her tea.

A couple of passing shinobi stopped and pointed at Kakashi and began to talk quietly.

Kakashi shook himself and suddenly summoned some courage from somewhere deep inside his hidden reserve of manliness.

"Sakura, I… I came to give you these." She looked up quickly as he pulled the bouquet out from behind his back and offered it to her, turning red as a beet beneath his mask.

"Oh… daffodils…" She extended her hands and received the gift as passing shinobi stopped in front of the shop to stare at the scene. Sakura noticed as people started whispering, and across the street, Tsunade came out of her favorite bar just in time to catch Sakura's eye as the young kunoichi blushed and look down, tucking her hands in between her knees, bouquet and all.

Almost on cue, Genma popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets, embarrassed, realizing he'd made a mistake and now all of Konoha would know that he liked Sakura. Genma leaned against a nearby post, chewing on that damn senbon, bobbing it up and down as he smirked evilly at Kakashi, then at Kotetsu.

"Well…" Kakashi searched for words. With all of these people looking he couldn't think straight.

The crowd quieted. Someone exhaled loudly, "He'd gonna say something, Shhh!"

"Thank you, Kakashi…" Sakura murmured, and Kakashi finally breathed.

"You're welcome." He relaxed a bit and smiled at her, and almost as if she felt it, Sakura looked up at him and smiled back. "See you around." He made a thumbs-up sign to her, turned and walked away.

The crowd started up again, but Tsunade cut through it and went directly to Sakura.

"Let's have a drink." She smiled and winked at her former student.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 12: The Root of All Evil (aka War Pigs)

(AN: I'm counting Konan, Itachi and Kisame, Deidara and Tobi, Hidan and Kakuzu, Zetsu and Orochimaru. Pein is the leader, teamed up with Konan of course.)

Shinju stood next to Kisame in the semi-circle consisting of the nine Akatsuki members and the leader. She slouched sideways slightly, one hand on her hip, the other hanging at her side. Shinju was used to being around these kinds of people; just to clarify that, she was used to bad people.

"Now that you are here, I'd like to go over a few items with you." The leader looked piercingly at her.

Shinju shrugged, totally relaxed. "Mind if I have a smoke?"

"Not at all."

She pulled a pack from her hip pouch and lit it with a small katon jutsu.

"So, what do you need me to know?"

"First of all, we are a group that works in pairs. Since there are already four pairs, you'll have to make a choice, to work alone, or to work with another pair that's willing to take you on." He paused expectantly.

Shinju narrowed her eyes slightly as she dragged on her cigarette. Exhaling, she asserted, "I'm not working alone. And I'm not working with Orochimaru, I just might kill him. Which won't be too good for your organization, I think." She smiled darkly at the leader. Orochimaru made a low hissing noise.

"Ok, who wants Shinju on their team?" The leader looked around at the group. Shinju continued to puff on her cig.

Deidara tried to look away from Tobi as he pulled on his teammate's sleeve and pointed to Shinju. "Deidara-sempai! Tobi would like to make a new friend!" He hopped up and down a little.

Deidara opened his mouth to say something scathing, but before he could say anything to Tobi, Shinju turned slightly at the waist.

"I don't make friends. With anybody."

She took another drag and looked at the leader, expecting him to take matters into his own hands. Tobi stopped hopping and sniffed. But before Pein could comment, Kisame waved a hand briefly.

"We'll take her."

Shinju smiled. "Thanks, Kisame. Glad to be on your team." She turned and punched his shoulder lightly, then nodded at Itachi.

"Good," said the leader. "Next order of business. For the last nine years, we've been trying to track down and gather all of the bijuu, as you may know. Our organization has been able to assemble seven of the nine bijuu. As of right now, the remaining two are located somewhere in Mist and Fire, one is the eight tails, a squid, and the last is the kyuubi." He looked directly at her eyes. "Itachi's team has been assigned the kyuubi." He paused again.

Shinju dropped her cigarette and smashed the butt with her sandal.

"If you think that because the kyuubi was my teammate for two months, I won't be able to capture him alive, you're sorely mistaken." She looked right back at Pein matching his icy glare with a blood red one. Itachi's breath caught slightly, almost inaudibly. He shifted, and commented, closing his own eyes, "Those eyes belong to my brother." He opened his eyes again revealing his own sharingan. "Each one of ours is different, like a fingerprint. His had two channels."

Tension built in the room as the two shinobi, now teammates, stared each other down, each ready to spring at the other at a moment's notice. Shinju finally broke his gaze as she cut off the chakra flow to her eyes. She looked to her hand, then to her cigarette as she lit another. She closed her eyes.

"Itachi-san, you have Orochimaru to thank for that." She re-opened her eyes and noted that the anger had faded quickly from Itachi's face. Unfortunately, anger was building elsewhere, and before she knew it, she had been slammed to the other end of the room, cigarette and all.

"You ungrateful bitch!" Orochimaru hissed. "You turn on me, then use the power I gave you to come back to my side!" He walked toward her rapidly as she panted lightly and pulled herself up from the floor. "I should kill you where you stand!" He stepped right up in her face, the bitter enemies stood toe to toe. A long hand slid out from inside the dark robe, and came up to her hardened face. Shinju said nothing as he caressed her visage. Orochimaru whispered, "I won't tolerate this kind of betrayal." His hand went to her neck, and as quickly as sound, he pushed her up against the wall, crushing her trachea. Shinju's hands rose to his wrist and her eyes widened as she struggled for air. Many members of Akatsuki smirked, and Kisame even let out a low growl that somewhat resembled a chuckle.

"I'm going to kill you slowly… I'm going to make you suffer ten times as much as I did when you betrayed me…"

Itachi smiled and narrowed his eyes, engaging his sharingan once more.

Then a flame lit in Orochimaru's eyes as he leaned close to her face, and she continued to claw at his wrist as she paled and her lips lost their color. Her breaths came in hoarse rasps, barely reaching her lungs at all. Orochimaru's tongue slowly exited his mouth and licked the side of her face as he said in her ear, "Or worse, I'll just take your body now and let you die the most shameful death possible right here, showing everyone in this room my ultimate achievement. Ku ku ku."

Her fingers pried around his hand, barely able to loosen his grip.

She inhaled as much as she could before delivering her blow.

"Fuck you."

Orochimaru cackled and drove his palm into her hyoid cartilage, destroying her breathing passage. But all that remained after his attack was a cloud of smoke.

A voice taunted from behind him, "You always were slow, Orochimaru."

He turned around, infuriated, but didn't comment. She exhaled the smoke from her cigarette. She had just showed everyone that she was faster than him, and definitely more in control of herself than he was. He clenched his fists.

"We'll finish this another day, kunoichi."

"Ok, whatever you say, Snakey." Shinju laughed as he passed behind the other members to return to his place. She retracted the seal that now covered half of her body, a clear sign to Orochimaru that she would take extra precautions and preparations in order to defend against, or kill him.

Pein smiled. "Now that that's over with," he said it as though he expected the confrontations to take place "We'll get to the last order of business. The next one was initiation, but considering that you just bested Orochimaru, I think that will suffice for our purposes." Pein grinned. "Here's your cloak." He held his hand out, and Kabuto appeared with a new one. Pein handed it to Shinju, and she slipped it on. "Wear it all the time. You shouldn't have a reason to take it off." She nodded.

"You can all go. Thanks for coming." The group started to disperse. As Orochimaru left, he looked one last time at Shinju, who noticed and stuck her tongue out at him. He frowned and left with Kabuto and Zetsu.

Kisame laughed aloud, and Itachi narrowed his eyes.

"We have to talk, Shinju." Itachi uttered softly, threateningly.

She looked directly at him. "I know."

Kisame pulled samehada onto his back. "Not now though." He grunted as he pulled the harness tight. "We're going home first."

Shinju looked questioningly at him.

"We have a couple of bases and otherwise we mainly stick to places outside of the five countries. But right now, we're heading to our mist base." He winked at her.

"Can we swim this time?" Her face brightened, and although she didn't smile, Kisame felt her cheer and anticipation infect him.

"Definitely."

Itachi turned without a word and walked away from the pair.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Lady Vengeance

Taking on Kakashi was no piece of cake. Sakura had thought that a few years wouldn't make much of a difference; that she was young and strong and nothing could bring her down, but after two years of spending most of her time in and around the medics' tent, her skills and strength had seriously deteriorated. She breathed deeply and took advantage of the pause in the barrage of attacks Kakashi sent her way to look for someplace to hide and plan for a few seconds. Up seemed like the best direction to run in, so she sprung into action and flew through the trees in the forest surrounding Konoha. Although the lack of training had cut into her other abilities, speed was not something that she sacrificed much of, and considering her precise chakra control abilities, it was an intense undertaking for even someone of Kakashi's caliber of tracker to pursue her successfully and overtake her before she was able to take cover. She looped around a small clearing and took to the ground, forming several simple hand seals and erecting a sound barrier around the immediate area, where she knew Kakashi was tailing not far behind her. Now she could move freely and hide without worrying about him hearing her, and it was likely that the low, barely noticeable buzz emitted by the barrier would confuse him enough to distract him from following his nose.

She turned into the area where their conflict had originally begun and sent a bunshin into the forest at about a 30 degree angle, directly north and away from Konoha, running off herself in a north-easterly direction. Breathing heavily and sweating despite the light snow flurries that dusted Konoha's temperate forest region, Sakura realized that continuing now with her tactic of run-and-hide would never work, as the flakes came down faster and thicker, finally resembling down feathers tickling her eyelashes and lips. Sakura stood briefly without moving. Finally, she gathered about a third of her remaining chakra and formed two more bunshin, which she sent in the direction of her and Kakashi's last conflict area. She then bounded to the trees again, looping around the edge of Konoha toward the gate, finally stopping in a tall oak where she began to unfurl her plan.

Two fake exploding notes went onto the tree where she was now. Attached to these were two wire strings hooked to a number of chakra strings that enclosed her previous trail in a sort of trap that would immobilize him. The chakra strings were barely visible in the snow, and their slight heat prevented the snow from sticking to them and making them stand out, whereas the wires that were attached to the exploding notes were readily visible because of the snow that stuck to them, but also were fairly harmless. All that remained now was to drive him into the midst of the web of chakra strings after getting him to pull or destroy the exploding notes.

Right on time, two of her three bunshin were eliminated by Kakashi. Sakura picked a spot in a tree farther down the path to hide in; one where a normal ninja would have difficulty spotting her but Kakashi would hopefully notice her in. Soon enough, before she had time to cool down from her frantic run, Kakashi came on the scene. Immediately he noticed the clumsy trap she had set with the two obvious wires, but apparently failed to notice the chakra strings. _Stupid_, Sakura thought, realizing her mistake. _He has the sharingan; this trap will never work_… But luck was on her side, he didn't have his hitae-ate pulled up. Kakashi was normally not someone to be fooled with the same trick twice, but then, this wasn't the same trick exactly anyway, was it?

Kakashi formed a simple hand seal and drew chakra, destroying the tags while jumping out of the way of the taut wires that now flew aimlessly, slashing through the air. Unfortunately for Kakashi, from years of training with him, Sakura was able to predict roughly two possible landing points from his position in the tree facing the exploding tags, and the two wires triggered the release of two separate kunai into the designated landing spaces for Kakashi. On the alert, Kakashi dodged his easily, sliding about ten feet backwards into the midst of the strings. It took him about half a second to realize that it was about a degree warmer in the path, where it should be colder because of the exposure, and in that split second the strings tightened around him and more were slung around the problem areas of his wrists and ankles. But Sakura was not the only one with a trick up her sleeve.

She ran out of her hiding place and tapped Kakashi on his neck, which was now bent toward her.

"I win!" She smiled sweetly at the unmoving Kakashi. He looked at her from under his half-lidded eye and sighed shallowly.

"Sakura…" the bunshin in front of her began, momentarily distracting her. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her by the ankle and began to pull her under. It was too late. It took Sakura too long to draw the chakra she needed from her reserve to her fist in order to create a fissure big enough for her to escape out of, and she didn't exactly want to kill her sensei during their first training session in over six years.

With snow falling softly around her head, which was now the only thing sticking up out of the ground, Kakashi crouched near her on the balls of his feet, sticking his neck out a bit in order to make eye contact with the buried kunoichi.

"You were saying?" He said quietly, lazily almost. "I won't fall for the same trick twice. And yes, that is the same trick." He shot her a brief eye-crinkle.

Sakura pouted as he helped her out of the bind and they tramped home through the ever-thickening coat of snow that blanketed most of the now-quiet forest.

She had no idea that living with Itachi would be as difficult as it was. From years of knowing Sasuke and interacting with the Uchiha family, Shinju assumed that the last Uchiha would be at least as temperamental as his younger counterpart, and surely that he would share his family's reputation for hard-line dedication to the service of Konoha and the townsfolk. Apparently, this was not part of the deal. The Uchiha was more of the quiet, selfish, angry-all-the-time type. In many ways, he was like Shinju in that a small trigger could turn his disposition 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. The difference between the two was that the Uchiha always seemed calm, whereas somehow Shinju's hyper nature seemed to leak somehow. But as long as one avoided those few triggers, he was easy to get around, and even easier to agree with.

Several days went by before Shinju finally tired of their silent, awkward confrontations in the hall and living areas. The Uchiha always seemed to pull out of these confrontations hinging on extra sensory phenomena unscathed, while Shinju tried to scrape herself up off of the mental floor of her brain and use the railing around the edges to support the next few steps she needed to take in order to prevent a breakage from occurring. Maybe it was the unnerving burgundy of his constantly activated sharingan, conveying a sense of paranoia and constant vigilance to her that only another sharingan user could understand or transmit. Maybe it was the intimidation of the mere force in his walk and hand motions, so fluid yet so full of intent, each one seemingly more deliberate than the next until she was forced to leave the room after only watching him stir up a meal or even sometimes just open a jar. It wasn't fear that fueled the feelings in the pit of her stomach, nor was it intimidation or even uncertainty. No, this was something more primal, more natural and built in that triggered the reaction he elicited from her already messed up nervous system.

This was desire.

It didn't take long for Shinju to realize that a confrontation between the two would be inevitable, but just what kind of confrontation would take place was something she wasn't entirely sure about. The partners still hadn't discussed the issue of Sasuke's sharingan, and she was sure that business came first as a rule in the organization they'd both been caught up in. Physically, he may have kindled something deep in her. But her heart was still in Konoha, same as it had been years before, it would take more than good looks and strong hands to turn her thoughts from the quiet shinobi she'd spent years trying to love.

Finally, over one of the few and far apart meals that they shared, Itachi breached the subject of most dread for her. Across the silent table in between the dull clink of a chopstick against an empty bowl and the slight scooting sound of a chair moving a fraction of an inch, he spoke.

"Why didn't you kill him?"

Shinju paused momentarily and lowered her dishes back to the table in a smooth, slow motion.

"Why doesn't anyone else kill him?" She murmured back across the table, wanting to fight, waiting to grapple with him on the floor, not backing down from the challenge she had been seeking since they first locked gazes.

He searched her face silently. So much more to say. He thought to himself_. She thinks she has a private personal space._ His mind continued. He folded his hands over his face so that his chin rested comfortably on his thumbs. _But she's the kind that's easily broken._ He raised the edges of his lips slightly.

"Why don't you?"

He almost smirked in her face. But that would be too obvious, that would just push her away. He was risking quite a lot as it was now. Watching the gears turn in her brain as she rolled her glass from side to side, he could almost see her thoughts.

What if I just… broke this glass now? Just dropped it over the edge? It was so tempting at that moment in time just to hear the tinkle of the glass hitting the cool tiles that she almost rolled it purposefully out of her hands, while carefully searching for a point somewhere in the middle of the table. No. She commanded herself. Focus.

"He killed Sasuke." She paused, even stopped the constant comfortable rolling of the glass in her hands, as if waiting for a blow, waiting for him to snap at the utterance of the deceased young man's name. She pushed on, "So, why don't you kill him?"

Itachi was ready with a response. "Sasuke killed himself. Why don't you avenge _your_self?"

Anger simmered just below the surface, waves of it nearly pouring off her body like vapors rising from the boiling surface of exposed gasoline.

Metering her breaths and thinking her response over carefully, scratching "Attack and Kill" off of her list of possible replies, she whispered back, "I need the power to kill him. And I'm waiting for the right time."

"The seal will kill you."

"You know nothing." She spat out and rose, lowering her dishes into the sink all too gently and padding silently out of the room which now held a lone, smiling Itachi.

"Genma, you have to trust me before I can help you." Sakura sighed again. "This won't turn into a make-out session, no matter how much you think that may help you overcome your problem; my professional medical opinion is that it's _not_ going to help."

"Come on Sakura. We both know it; you can't possibly be falling for that old man." Genma smiled lopsidedly and twirled the senbon between his canines. He leaned forward a bit. "Especially when you've got a hot piece of man-candy waiting to be eaten up by a hungry little kunoichi like you."

"Genma, you're going to have to stop there or I'll have to ask Morino to take over these sessions." Sakura stiffened, leaning back slightly without even realizing it.

Genma retreated to the sofa back, reclining lazily, pouting.

"Suit yourself. So, what am I here for again?" His frown deepened.

"I would like for you to gloss over what happened two weeks ago by the cenotaph." Sakura remained brisk and to the point, yet relaxed and slouched a bit to invite his conversation.

Genma looked at the tip of his senbon reluctantly, then to Sakura's face.

"Do we have to talk about this here?"

"What do you mean, Genma?"

"I mean, couldn't we go somewhere, I don't know, more fun and noisy to talk about this. I mean, I know it's supposed to be confidential and all, but I don't give a shit what anyone has to say, I'll just knock 'em out." He grinned.

Sakura started to deny him, but decided against it. Maybe doing what Genma said for once would lead to some results. After all, her job was to help him recover first, and then worry about gathering any valuable information.

"OK."

Genma and Sakura walked in to the dim light of the pub, sat in a far booth and ordered their drinks and munchies, while adjusting to the atmosphere and light in the pub.

Genma took the same pose he struck on the sofa in Sakura's office, except that here it seemed almost appropriate, anyone that saw them from a distance would think that the two were on a date, maybe even fighting with each other from the creases that began to form on Sakura's brow as Genma continued with his story.

"I had to open my big mouth, you know me Sakura. I've got an attitude problem. And when you push my buttons, I'm anything but laid back. Threatening Kakashi means pushing my buttons."

Genma sighed. "As soon as Shikamaru started making faces, I knew it was a bad idea. I mean, who would go after that crazy woman anyway?" He looked to his glass. "Only a dumb ass likes me."

Sakura interjected, leaning forward slightly more. "You're not a dumb ass. You had a mission, to protect Shinju from herself. You did everything in your power to comply. You had no way of knowing what her next move was, and you weren't at fault for anything that went wrong. You're going to have to understand that at some point." She looked softly at him, not reprimanding him for his way of thinking, just suggesting a better way to him. "Okay?"

The young shinobi nodded, then poured some more shike from the bottle the waitress had brought. "I threatened her, telling her that ANBU was on their way, sent a senbon at her, tried to reason with her. But you know I ain't got no way with words."

He took another swig from the tiny glass. "Once she started moving, seeing as how she wasn't all there, I totally underestimated her." He smiled weakly. "I'd be willing to bet that I'm not the first one to do that." Pause. "She knocked a kunai in my way and sent a bunshin after Nara, but as she started to disappear, as I started to wonder if this was real or genjutsu, I realized that I had already been trapped." He looked blankly at Sakura, disappointed in himself, in his ability and his vulnerability at that moment.

"She's one of the best, Genma. She trained personally with Orochimaru for more than six years." Sakura smiled and sipped on her strawberry daiquiri. In a very conversational tone she continued, "Just before she left the Sand camp, I saw her and Kakashi sparring. You know Kakashi could kick your ass any day of the week. Well, Shinju had his hands tied in about a minute."

Genma smirked, whisking the senbon from his mouth and stirring the clear liquor in the glass. "That old geezer? Meh, I'll take him on any time." He smiled at Sakura, making eye contact, and more so, making her mad.

"Shyaanarrooo!!" Sakura bonked him on the head with a chakra-powered fist.

"Ow…." Genma rubbed his head and waterfalls ran over his cheeks. "That hurt…"

"Yeah right…." Sakura sipped quietly. "Finish your story if you can today." She crossed her legs and sat primly as if nothing had happened.

"Alright, yeah, yeah…" Genma re-filled his glass, then drained it for the third time. "There's only so much you can do when you're caught in a genjutsu you know. You can try to break it, which I did. You can try to cut yourself to bring yourself crashing back to reality, which I couldn't do because I was already trapped. And… well, I reckon that's about it." He rolled his neck. "I was stuck, and when she busted out with the mangekyou, I knew the game was over. I thought that I was going to die right there, I thought 'worst case, ol' Genma, it's gonna be 72 hours of torture and we'll wake up dead here in the grass'."

"When I heard those words, 'for the next 72 hours this will be your existence', I thought that something different was going to happen. Instead I was somewhere dark… somewhere quiet, I couldn't see or hear until I saw the hole blasted in me. Blood was everywhere, there was an ANBU mask on the floor in front of me, someone beating on my face," Genma sighed "But I've never been ANBU. Then I realized this wasn't me, I realized that I was her. And she was about to show me everything she never told anyone."

Sakura fought down the lump that rose in her throat, the bile that threatened to heave itself out of her, the tears that tried to reach her eyes. Her cold hands clutched the daiquiri glass, white-knuckled with fear and nausea and she remembered everything that she had seen them do to Shinju, all flash in front of her while Genma also fought to keep himself from breaking in front of her.

"There is so much to tell… so much that she showed me. But even though she hurt me, in fact, she must have hurt so much more as these things were happening to her in reality. At the same time, even though I know she had to tell and show someone, I wish it hadn't have been me and if I get a chance to let her know, I will."

Genma looked up from the now dry glass. "Sakura, did you…" He never finished. He didn't know how.

"Genma…" Sakura whispered. "I'll be seeing you next week. That's quite enough." She hurriedly pulled some bills out of her purse and left the bar as quickly as her slender legs would take her.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Strange Wind

Rain fell thickly and Orochimaru, Kabuto and Zetsu stood on the damp island, finally sure that the bijuu was within their reach. Particularly strong, smart and elusive, the giant squid bijuu had proven problematic in the past.

"Wish Kisame was around." The quiet plant-man commented.

"Shinju would turn out to be more of a hassle than Kisame is worth, though." Kabuto pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and smirked, while Orochimaru hissed. "She could cost us everything, and we can't afford to lose the bijuu this time."

"Too late," Shinju said flatly as she, Itachi and Kisame crunched on the gravel until the two groups were face to face. "Let's do this thing."

* * *

_Let's see…_ Tsunade mulled over her options as she sat in her office overlooking Konoha, watching the scene play out before her in the crystal ball that had helped to guide the Hogakes before her in their decisions._ Allowing Akatsuki to gain one more bijuu will bring them that much closer to their goal. And, this incident involves a Fire-nuke nin. However, Konoha is at war with Mist, and allowing their bijuu to be captured and destroyed can only weaken them. Lastly, no one in Fire, not even myself, is prepared right now to deal with Orochimaru, Itachi and Shinju all at once. Anyone sent on a mission into these circumstances cannot be expected to return. It's a waste of effort._ Tsunade reasoned with herself. _I'll just let Akatsuki carry on as usual. Let them weaken Mist, let Konoha get stronger and let us prepare – because I know Naruto is the final target…_

* * *

Kotetsu and Genma found Kakashi sipping quietly on his green tea in a secluded booth, far from Konoha's busy downtown. The copy-nin glanced up briefly before acknowledging his acquaintances.

"Heeeeeeeeeey, Kakashi." Genma leaned back against the counter of the booth after ordering a hot tea, supporting his weight with both elbows. "Soooo… little Sakura and you have got a thing going, right?"

Kakashi looked straight ahead tiredly and sighed. He had known this was coming…

Kotetsu laughed. "We have a plan."

Genma started, "See, you and Sakura have an open thing going on. But what you don't know is Shizune, the babe that works at the hospital, likes _me_." He winked and the senbon bobbed up and down. "Now, I don't know about you, but I get the feeling that Kotetsu here might have a kick ass idea to glue us all together."

Kotetsu grinned. "I suggest that the four of you go on a double date."

Kakashi sighed and gulped some tea. "No way, you guys. That's not really my thing…" he trailed off.

"What isn't your thing? Public humiliation? – oh wait, you already embarrassed yourself in front of all of Konoha!" Kotetsu replied sarcastically, Genma sniggering along with him.

Genma added, "What else could _possibly_ go wrong?", clapping Kakashi on the shoulder.

Kakashi sighed again and stared agitatedly at the ripples on the surface of his tea as he drummed his fingers on the side of the cup. _Dammit._

The two obnoxious younger Jounin continued to stare at him, waiting out his silence.

He finally threw his hands up. "Fine, whatever you two want! I don't care! Dress me up like a ballerina and sign me up for mud wrestling, just stop bothering me!" He pulled some cash out and left it on the booth's upper counter, then stalked out of there.

As Kakashi stomped off, Kotetsu grinned at Genma.

"Was he serious?"

"Shutup, Kotetsu…" Genma walked out of the shop alone, following Kakashi's trail to the edge of town.

"So…" Genma drawled. "What are we doing here? This is just a date, remember? A date, do you know the meaning of that? Kakashi? Are you even listening to me?!"

"Hn." Kakashi looked carefully at the variety of precious merchandise available to him and sighed, all but ignoring Genma. _They're all beautiful_…

"Hey, Kakashi. This is one night, not the rest of your life!" Genma shook his friend's arm. "You're gonna make me look bad…"

Kakashi paused in his search and looked Genma full in the face. "You're wrong." He was serious. "This is the rest of my life."

Genma's senbon fell out of his open mouth. _He's lost it. He's joking._ "Kakashi, you can't just spend this kind of money… you can't just do stuff like this, you can't just make decisions like this in one day. Sleeping with a chick is one thing, giving her something like this… this is a different ball game." He crossed his arms. "I can't give Shizune this kind of commitment."

"Suit yourself. To me, it's the same. Why don't you just…" Kakashi shrugged as he paused. "Be honest with a girl for once? Just tell her what you told me and see what she says?"

Genma opened his mouth again, then shut it, and began to really think for once as Kakashi turned to inspect the wares of the shop.

* * *

Sakura poked her head out of the bathroom, laughing and scrunching up her nose.

"Don't laugh at this one, ok?"

Shizune giggled through a mouthful of milk chocolate crèmes as she sat on Sakura's bed, playing fashion specialist. "I'll try!" She smiled and picked out another one. "Mmmmm, apricot…."

Sakura jumped out all at once. Hair hanging limp and wet around her shoulders, no makeup as usual and no shoes, Sakura had donned the perfect dress for tonight's date. Conservative, almost businesslike, the dress still managed to make her look sexy and yes- drew attention to all the right places. The black spaghetti strap dress was fitted, falling just under the knee with a small ruffle. Plain but pretty, this dress was really set off by the pink boucle jacket that only reached her midriff. The slimming black of the dress and the lines of the jacket drew attention to Sakura's small waist, and the ruffles on the dress played up her shapely calves. Lastly, since the neckline on the dress itself was a little high, Sakura hoped she'd be able to keep her favorite copy-nin's focus on her _face_.

Sakura blushed as Shizune's eyes sparkled and her hands clasped together. "Sakura," She breathed. "You look _great._"

Sakura laughed and plopped down onto the bed, helping herself to a chocolate from the enormous Russel Stovers' box. "Yeah right Shizune. I probably look like some kind of horny, grumpy librarian…"

The girls laughed. This was the only way to spend early spring afternoons…

"Seriously though, you're not going to wear that blue yukata, are you?"

Shizune blushed indignantly. "No!" She pouted a little. "I brought _something_!" she huffed and grabbed her bag, stalking into the bathroom, leaving Sakura to indulge in sweet nougat crème…

Shizune emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, shyly walking with Sakura to the mirror.

"Shizune…" The girls stood looking into Sakura's 3-way mirror, turning this way and that. "We look _awesome_."

Shizune, being the older of the two, went an even more conservative route than Sakura, and opted for a black, calf-length princess-cut dress with a black silk cardigan, accentuating the outfit with red hair ribbon, red and black clutch and red and black pumps.

As she spun, her dress fanned out around her. "I hope I don't look like an old lady!"

"Nonsense, Shizune!" Sakura stood straight up and wagged a finger at Shizune, in mock seriousness. "You don't look a day over 12!" The two cracked up in a fit of giggles again.

"Don't do that or they really will take away your office and put you in the medical library!"

The girls sighed.

"It's almost eight." Sakura commented.

"Yeah, seeing as your date's the famous copy-nin, we've got at least another half-hour of pre-gaming to take care of yet!"

* * *

Genma knocked on Kakashi's door. "You ready yet?" He frowned.

A thump was heard from within.

"Almost…"

The door finally opened and Kakashi looked great. Black slacks neatly contrasted with a crisply clean, almost white, buttercup-pink shirt. He had rolled up his sleeves and carried his blazer over his shoulder.

"Is it just me or is it a warm night?"

Genma rolled his eyes and mumbled, "I knew I should have made those reservations for 9:30…"

"Come on, Genma!" Kakashi clapped the younger shinobi on the shoulder of his charcoal grey button-down. "We'll just pick up the girls and be on our way."

The two men walked toward Sakura's apartment complex and waited outside after they rang the buzzer.

"I still don't think it's a good idea…" Genma stopped short as he saw the pair that was coming down the stairs.

"Hm?" Kakashi turned and fought the urge to double take. _She's like a … umm… she's really pretty…_

Sakura and Shizune's eyes sparkled and the two girls exchanged glances as they set eyes on their respective dates. Genma looked worried about something, but as handsome and well-dressed as ever. Kakashi was beaming, and his pressed shirt gave him a carefree look as the sleeves were casually rolled up.

"Konban wa?" The couples greeted each other and linked arms as they headed downtown to the sushi favorite for Konoha couples, the _Cold Fish_.

* * *

A long night of drinks was starting to get the best of Shizune. As she giggled and tripped her way to the ladies' room, hanging on Sakura's arm for dear life, Genma gave Kakashi a look.

"I have to take her home now."

"She's all yours." Kakashi looked him in the eye. "Why don't you tell her what you think? Just ask her out, that's all I'm saying. Don't just sleep with her and forget her, you're running out of kunoichi, ladies for that matter, in Konoha, Genma."

Genma looked to his drink and sloshed it around in the cup, finally downing it.

"I'll give it a shot." He breathed as the girls returned. Genma rose from the table and bent to take Shizune's hand. "Time for you to go home." He looked into her eyes. "I've got something I want to tell you." He added quietly. Shizune nodded in agreement and Genma helped her with her cardigan.

As the two left the now quiet restaurant, the remaining pair sat in comfortable silence for a minute or two.

"Well," They started at the same time.

Kakashi rested a hand lightly on Sakura's. "Let me." He almost whispered.

He stood briefly, then knelt next to her, cupping one of her cheeks briefly in his hand.

"I know we haven't known each other like this for very long at all," He started, "But I can't wait another day. I don't know what may happen to me tomorrow, or on my next mission, any more than you do. I can't promise you happiness or perfection. But I can promise that I've loved you for a long time, and I want to love you a lot longer."

Tears brimmed in Sakura's eyes and she fought to keep from pursing her lips too hard as her shoulders shook a little.

"Sakura…" Kakashi breathed. From his pocket, he brought out a small, black velvet box which he then opened with one hand. Inside lay a perfectly elliptical pink opal, with two diamonds on the upper right and lower left corners of the platinum setting. Sakura's eyes darted to it and then to Kakashi's eyes – she had seen this in the window of the jewelry shop out on the outskirts of town, these kinds of things were so hard to buy, especially during the war, and the good luck it would bring her because of it's being a gift would protect her forever. But the shine of hope and love in Kakashi's eyes made the flaming opal's rainbow facets dim in comparison. She put her hand in his and closed the box between the two of them, bringing Kakashi's other hand to clasp in her own.

"Kakashi…" The tears brimmed over. "Of course I'll marry you!"

Kakashi smiled, for real this time, and the two of them enjoyed a long and comfortable, peaceful and happy embrace of love lost and found.

* * *

Shizune and Genma finally reached her apartment.

"Well, I guess this is it." Genma said out loud, half to himself. "Why don't we go out more often? Get to know each other, you know?"

Shizune smiled. "I'm getting older."

Genma frowned a little. "I don't quite get your meaning…"

Shizune laughed. "Shinobi don't live forever, you know!"

"Oh." Genma's frown deepened. He forced himself to think of anything… Kakashi, dressed as a ballerina, covered in mud… "I don't really want to take advantage of you tonight. But you're welcome to stay…"

"Sounds great!" Shizune hugged her date and they made their way slowly up the stairs.

_

* * *

Time goes on and Kakashi and Sakura are happily married, while Genma and Shizune are content just passing the time living together without bothering with the formalities of social commitment._

_In darker news, Akatsuki now has 8 of the 9 bijuu gathered and the organization prepares to capture the last. Shinju remains on Itachi and Kisame's team, and the three of them try to work out their differences while running from the law and sometimes, themselves._­­­­­­­­­

* * *

Shinju sat on the dirty hotel room floor, the empty trunk at the foot of the bed serving as a back rest, flipping through the same dog-eared novel she'd read again and again over the last few days. The room was deadly quiet except for the occasional growl and munching noise from Samehada. The wind whistled through the eaves and the old building creaked. A bead of sweat ran down her back.

Late spring in the badlands. The only people who would brave the weather and loneliness were outlaws and missing-nins. And lately, since the beginning of the war, it was getting more and more dangerous to seek sanctuary in these lands. Several times already, Itachi and their team had been ratted out and forced to move on or be captured. _It didn't use to be like this…_ Kisame's bitter mumbling echoed through her head. Shinju stood and dropped the book carelessly on the floor, a small cloud of dust rose and dimmed the sunbeam that cut across the room, particles sparkling in midair. She dragged herself over to the window, suddenly depressed, and sat on the floor again, arms crossed on the sill, watching the wind.

You could see the wind here. It blew fine dust into your eyes when you were in it, it blew curlicues and fine swirls into the smoke of fires that always seemed to be burning somewhere in this country. It blew sad clouds in to cover the moon and stars at night, as though they didn't need to be seen by people like her. She closed her eyes. It blew around and into Itachi's robe when he stood to fight, whipping it around his body like some crazy flag. It blew against the strips of cloth that covered Samehada and formed mini deserts and sand dunes on the surface, leaving traces of the flow in which it traveled. You could see the wind even when it wasn't moving, as heat waves rose off of the tin roofs of the bars and hovels in the shantytowns of the badlands. But Shinju wasn't thinking of that, or anything right now. She watched as the wind brought clouds, green-gray clouds that had been flashing with lightning for hours on the edge of the horizon, clouds that finally came closer to her, bringing the clean scent of ozone and spring, with them. The sky darkened and the clouds rolled closer, but the badland winds still fought against the calming showers and blew dirt about in every direction. Suddenly, the wind died down, the sand on the windowsill calmed and stopped moving, and it began to pour.

Shinju finally cracked the window open and let the cool air float lazily into the room, filling it with the smell of damp earth and sand. She flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. _Ping, pat pat, ping ding, pat pat pat…_ said the roof to Shinju.

"Kakashi…" Said Shinju to the roof. She fought for a few more seconds, then turned over and cried into the dusty, musty pillow, cried hard and loud and softly and bitterly. She sat up, still hiccupping and wiped her nose on her sleeve, then smoothed the pillowcase, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

_Maybe this is for the best._ She thought to herself. _I haven't had a nightmare, I haven't had a strange moment since I left Konoha. Maybe this is what I should have done all along. Just left…_ She pulled at some fuzz that was sticking out of the quilt covering the bed. _Of course, I have killed an awful lot of people lately._ She frowned. _Too many… It's better not to think about that._ She chided herself.

Someone stopped outside of the door and instinctively, she felt out to discern the chakra signature of the intruder and put her hand on the hilt of her long katana. She relaxed as the door opened and in walked a bruised Kisame and an irritated Itachi, both of them soaked to the bone.

She looked closer at Kisame. "How do you get a shiner like that grocery shopping?"

Itachi frowned as he unbuttoned his cloak and reclined in a chair. "_I_ went shopping. He went to the bar…"

"Shutup…" Kisame growled.

Shinju laughed, taking a cold pack from the small freezer and throwing it at him.

Itachi also smiled briefly, the shadow of it hanging on his face long after it passed.

"Hey."

Shinju turned from the novel she'd picked back up. Was he talking to her?

"Let's go get some air. Let Hoshikage here hold the fort for awhile."

Shinju nodded and dropped the book, ready to go.

* * *

The two sat side by side in a quiet bar, the combination of rain and early Sunday afternoon contributing to the deserted state of the establishment. Shinju sipped quietly on her warm tea, Itachi turned his small glass of sake where it stood on the bar and stared at it.

He opened his mouth. "When are you going to kill him?"

Shinju had gotten used to his asking about this delicate topic. "Very soon. I was thinking about tomorrow, actually."

He looked surprised.

Shinju shrugged. "I hate Mondays."

"You don't even know where he is."

"Well, I have to take some time to find him of course. Thing is, he's getting ready to move…"

She drank some more of her rapidly cooling tea.

"Wanna help?" She suggested to her fellow sharingan-user. "The fight's all mine, but you can help me find him."

Itachi's brow creased. He also wanted a piece of the action. There was a reason that he had left Sasuke alive, he had hoped that Sasuke would seek him out and their family would be able to escape the responsibilities and traditions of the names 'Konoha' and 'Uchiha' forever… a part of Itachi wanted revenge against the person who messed up his whole plan… and no one messes with Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi sipped some more sake. "I'll help you find him. But, I will fight as well." He frowned at her. "You can't have all the glory…."

"OK." Shinju agreed, remembering Kabuto. _He could be about as problematic as Orochimaru… It's a possibility anyway._ "We'll leave Kisame here then?"

"Yes. If he has any problems, he knows how to contact us."

The pair drained their cups and left the bar, headlong into the most dangerous weeks of their lives.

* * *

Itachi and Shinju glided with ease through the treetops of the familiar forest, skirting the border of their familiar homeland. Shinju and Itachi enjoyed the humid, aromatic spring days they passed in and around Fire, and when their trail led them back into the rocky forests and canyons of sound, Shinju was all but happy. However, the warm spring weather had done something to Itachi, and he was suddenly more amicable than before.

_Twitterpated…_ Thought Shinju. Unlikely but possible, Itachi was more prone to conversation with her, less anxious about the circumstances of their proximity and almost seemed to _enjoy_ their time together since their days in Fire.

On Thursday night, they sat opposite each other with the fire in between them, extra fish roasting over the glowing flame, comfortably munching on their own meals.

Itachi broke the silence.

"I almost killed you that first day."

Shinju smiled.

"I would have liked to see you try. Somehow, I don't think it would have been as easy as you think."

He smirked and locked gazes with her. "I'm not Orochimaru."

"I know that, I know that," She nodded. "But I'm a pretty resourceful fighter. I think it would have at least been a tough battle."

"Ok, I'll give you that." Itachi waved his fish around vaguely. "But I would have won."

"Doesn't matter, we're here now, you're on my side, end of story. If you _are_ better than me, that can only be good for this mission."

"Ok, well, that's not really the point I was trying to make." He frowned.

"Ok, then, go on."

"Well, don't you want to know why I didn't kill you?"

Shinju contained her inner mirth. "Eh, whatever." She chomped into her fish.

"Well," Itachi continued, "I was thinking about Sasuke."

Shinju stopped eating and looked Itachi in the eyes, crossing her arms. "Explain."

"Orochimaru tricked Sasuke. Sasuke was young and dumb, I set him up for failure and as a result, he died. Even though his best friends, teachers, and other people who cared about him tried to help Sasuke see that Orochimaru would never help him, he ignored them all and continued in his vein of becoming the most powerful and eventually killing me, which wasn't really what I had wanted at all. Even you, one of the most outstanding kunoichi I've come across, were not able to deter him from his self-destructive path."

Shinju sighed and took another bite. "Sasuke was already too far gone to be rescued by the time I got there. In fact, he died about two years after I got to Orochimaru's place."

"Ok, well, that's besides the point as well. The point is that I've been thinking about Sasuke a lot lately, I've been thinking about Orochimaru, and when we get this over with and get our revenge, put this all behind us, I'd like to do something else that I've been thinking about for awhile."

He looked up from the heart of the fire and removed the fish from their roasting place, leaning them against a tree to cool.

Shinju paled slightly. "What?"

Itachi looked a little weirdly at her through the firelight. "I'd like to restore my clan."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Avenger / Crisis After Crisis

Orochimaru and Kabuto stood near each other, Kabuto with his arms crossed proudly over his chest, Orochimaru standing in his usual limp-armed style. Face to face with their adversaries, the long time duo was sure that they would be the victors of yet another confrontation.

"So, the two mice decided to come out and play with the big snake?" Orochimaru threw at Itachi and Shinju, voice high and tainted by the characteristically adhesioned glottis. He cackled in the usual style.

Itachi said nothing, but Shinju couldn't contain her excitement. This was not the Shinju of the casual Akatsuki confrontation. This was Shinju basking in her own bloodlust, saturated with a desire for revenge and now nearly tasting the victory that would be Orochimaru's painful demise. She had prepared herself for battle, but this was the first time that instead of emptying her mind and heart, she had filled it with everything she needed to motivate herself to carry out justice against Orochimaru. She was ready with a verbal attack.

"I'll rip your tongue out of your face and make sure you never speak again!"

She tore off her robe and bared her attire of choice for battles like this: Her simple current-issue ANBU bdu's. Lowering her stance, dust clouding around her feet, she began to form seals one after the other, drawing chakra, beginning the fight. Kabuto lit his hand with chakra and started to run toward her, but Itachi stopped him short, appearing in front of him in a heartbeat, he engaged his sharingan and instigated hand-to-hand combat, peppered with chakra attacks from Kabuto and fire attacks from Itachi.

Shinju completed her jutsu and Orochimaru's bunshin watched, smiling, laughing the entire time. She knew it was a bunshin, that was just his style, but she also knew where he was waiting – in his little underground snake hole as usual. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she drew chakra to her own sharingan and whispered,

"I know where you are."

She placed her fingers over each other and slammed her palms into the ground, right in between the wide stance she held with her feet opening up a small fissure in the ground. Though not as precise as Sakura or Tsunade's chakra control would have managed, the effect was enough to coax the real Orochimaru to ooze out of the dirt and materialize for the sake of fighting her. He frowned. Immediately, the two began their own round of hand to hand combat. Wave after wave of kicks and punches connected with the other's face or abdomen, never quite square on target, snakes flew from Shinju's hair, Orochimaru's tongue countered her attacks by wrapping itself around any limb or bit of neck it could reach, then Shinju's short Katana got involved, and he knew that she was all business.

A quick flash was all it took and in a moment of careless, meaningless cackling, it was off and Orochimaru stumbled backwards with a hoarse scream, hands clamped to his face, blood dribbling from the opening. Kabuto tried to break away from the fight with Itachi to tend to his master, but the deadly Uchiha would have none of it. As Kabuto exposed his back to him, he took a katon to the back and found himself rolling and screaming in pain from the burn, found that a significant portion of his chakra was going toward healing and regenerating the damaged cells. Orochimaru knelt and uncovered his face, spitting the blood out as best he could, screaming all the while. Shinju stood not ten feet away, triumphant, katana lowered in one hand, snake tongue dangling limply from her raised fist.

"You'll never touch me again with this, you piece of shit."

She threw the offending appendage into the dirt at her feet and rendered it irreplaceable with a katon of her own.

Orochimaru just kept screaming.

She walked right up to him and smacked him on the side of the head with the hilt of her sword, turning his face away from her.

"Is that all you can do? Huh?" She hit him again, then remembered the bunshin. Yes, she had gotten his real tongue alright, but it was his turn to strike back, and they didn't call him a Sannin for nothing. _Fuck_.

Orochimaru had brought his own sword into this fight, the sword that killed the third Hokage now sliced through flesh and armor as Shinju failed to escape his wide slash completely. Orochimaru's eyes burned with a fire that spelled hate to all who saw them, and Shinju now winced as the sting of her wound and the stench of her own blood reached her head.

_Dammit!_ She reached up to her back and felt the cut. Not deep, by no means deep, but located in an awkward and hard-to-reach place on her back, this wound would affect her range of movement. _Damn, now I wish Sakura was here…_ Shinju steeled herself for the next attack and her opponent stared her down, his deep laugh setting her rage on fire. She drew her long sword and fought to suppress her rage, fought to keep herself from allowing the seal to take over. _Not in this fight,_ she ground her teeth together. _I won't be a tool!_ She tightened her jaw and sucked in a breath as the two charged each other.

A mad swordfight ensued, blood flew, both parties took serious hits but no deadly thrusts yet met their goal. Finally, Shinju slipped in a puddle of blood, whose it didn't matter, and looked up in time to see Itachi's hand plunge through Kabuto's chest, bones splintering and blood dripping. His hand emerged on the other side, clutching the medic's heart like some sort of bloodthirsty Aztec priest. A split second later, Shinju paid the price for allowing her attention to be diverted for a moment.

"Hn…" Her breath constricted deep in her throat, pushing everything that was mortal, burning, gushing pain into the pit of her being, she blacked out for a second, and came back only to find herself staring at bloody fingers twisted around the sharp metal rod that nested itself nearly hilt-deep in her solar plexus. She dragged her visage in an upward arc to face the wielder of the sword, her arch-nemesis, and convulsed once, heaving blood and vomit forward in a painful movement that drove the weapon yet deeper into her center.

"Dammit…" She gurgled through gritted teeth and knew that he had pushed her to her last option. Even the sharingan wouldn't save her now, there was only one thing left, and Orochimaru knew it. He laughed in her face again, that annoying, high pitched cackle, "Ku, ku, ku…" He didn't think she'd do it. Didn't think she'd stoop that low, but she would, oh yes she would, she had sold her soul to be here now and if anyone thought she would give up, they were wrong now. Orochimaru had given her the ultimate chance.

"Raaaaaaaaghhhhhhhh!" With a scream she got up off of her knees and Orochimaru unknowingly let go of the sword. Itachi stood watching, slightly wide-eyed, interested to see her next move. Shinju stumbled backwards and placed her hands on the hilt of the weapon, a cold sweat trailing down her face and arms, even under her gloves. The whole world stopped except for her heartbeat and the breeze that played through her hair. No one made a sound as Shinju heard Sakura's voice whisper in her head,

"_We have to let go…"_

She saw the cerulean eyes fill with water as she wrenched her own shut, and the memory pained her more than any sword yet, and with a last cry, she swung her hands upward willfully and in the same moment that the blood tried to rush forth, she broke the seal that would heal her wounds and destroy her mind.

Itachi took a step back as he took in what had materialized in front of him, the monster that stood now where Shinju had once stood held none of the grace and beauty that had been part of this fight from its beginning hours ago. This was evil, bloodlust incarnate. Pure, raging bloodlust.

The black creature spread its foul, tattered bat wings and heaved breaths into its chest; where Shinju's legs once were, now what resembled a raptor's feathery haunches and clawed toes dug into the dry ground. Her upper body had transformed as well, thick scales covered her torso as the upper part of her uniform lay in pieces on the ground, destroyed by the sprouting of wings from her shoulders. Only parts of her fatigues and gloves clothed her, and she reared her scaly but otherwise unchanged head to the sky and screamed.

Lowering her head and resting her claws on the ground in front of her, she exhaled gruffly, eyes focusing on Orochimaru's and suddenly glowing.

"I'll swallow your soul…"

The barely recognizable words escaped her vocal tract as the growl of an animal.

No sooner had Orochimaru shamefully turned tail than Shinju's terrible claws were upon him, ripping into his back and arms, her horrible wings flapped and stirred up dust around the struggling pair, and she began to tear him limb from limb.

Itachi watched in horror. He'd seen Hidan do things like this, but never had he seen anything so hideous, anything so brutal, anything so _frightening_.

She screamed, losing all control as she dug her front claws mercilessly into his throat to hold him, setting a huge foot on his leg, she pulled at the sinew and bone that kept his left leg a part of his body. With a sickening series of pops followed by a sound that can only be described to give the feeling of nails on a blackboard, his leg came off and his choked, hoarse scream gave no impression like the gaping bloody hole where his leg should have been did.

Itachi steeled himself. _No jutsu can save him now. Not even the sharingan could have made a difference against something like that thing…_

Shinju continued in the same vein for what seemed to Itachi like hours, when finally –pop- and she threw his lifeless head to the ground and crushed it under her massive stanchion of a leg in an eruption of tiny bits of bone, brains and blood. Exhausted by the seal, she transformed again and collapsed in a heap next to the mangled destruction she had wrought with Orochimaru's body, covering her bosom weakly with her arms crossing in front of her, cradling her shoulders in her palms trying to soothe the pain of the transformation and maintain decency at the same time. She hung her head low and bit her lip, fighting the urge to vomit from the stench of the disemboweled, dismembered body that lay in front of her.

No one knew how long she sat like that before Itachi slowly gathered his bearings and picked his way toward her, carrying her robe. He bent to touch her, barely brushing with the edge of her fringe of hair when she whipped her upper body upward to face him, clutching his wrist in her hand, careful to cover her breasts while looking desperately into his eyes, crying out for help. He pried her hand from his wrist and smoothly and slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves, covered her body with the black and red robe, then took her broken body and soul into his embrace without a word.

* * *

The four shinobi watched silently from the cover of the forest. Never had any of them witnessed anything like this, Tsunade almost decided to turn back from the scene of this destruction and head home to safety and harmony before she realized that now, more than ever, Shinju needed to be helped, needed to be hospitalized, or she would snap.

Itachi held Shinju tightly and she returned his embrace, desperately grasping his upper arms with gripping hands, and he realized that she was not a monster. She was a human. He pried at the corners of his mind, searching for an explanation for her madness, and recoiled from himself as he found deeper, darker, dirtier parts of himself. He felt Shinju's tears sobless tears soak through the front of his robe as visions of his mother, face up in a pool of her own blood, eyes open, breath rattling in her chest haunted him, and he stared stiffly and listlessly into space, no longer aware of his surroundings. Finally, drained, Itachi pulled himself from the embrace and forced Shinju to her feet. Her face hardened like anodized steel, she followed him to their packs and pulled her last uniform from within her own.

Itachi turned to her, puzzled, still lost in his own thoughts and memories.

Shinju looked into his eyes and activated her sharingan, drawing more chakra, testing her boundaries, and Itachi understood, and readied himself.

They had come.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the short chapter. The next chapter may also be a short one. I wanna take the time right now to thank my readers, I have reached over 1500 hits in the last few days during which I posted chapter 13. I'm amazed that people like reading my stuff, and I wanna know what you all think -hint hint-, your reviews are greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed chapter 14, more are coming fast and hard. 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Ohne Dich

Shinju and Itachi were now aware of their audience, yet they said nothing and did nothing to show it. Shinju waded through the filth that was the remains of Orochimaru's body and retrieved her two katana, along with Orochimaru's sword. After heating it with chakra in order to sterilize it, she surprised everyone present by nearly unhinging her jaw and swallowing it, sealing it inside of her body until she needed it again. Itachi looked coldly at her.

"It's the only way you can store it. And only someone who can summon snakes can convert the sword's energy into chakra and become the vessel. The sword is too valuable to leave here for some idiot to destroy."

She bent and turned Kabuto's lifeless body over, searching his vest and pockets for what she knew must be there. Finally she found them, she threw a couple of soldier pills and blood replenishing pills to Itachi, and took a few herself.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes._ She knows we're here._

Tsunade gave the signal.

Itachi and Shinju didn't even flinch as the four hidden shinobi flew into the clearing, surrounding them. Shinju slowly rose from her search of Kabuto's body and looked around at the familiar faces she'd hoped she'd never have to kill.

Itachi said nothing, only stared his cold, hard stare at the shinobi that stood in his path. _He'll kill them all, _thought Shinju.

Finally she spoke, looking directly at Genma, her least favorite shinobi of the four. "I don't really want to kill you." She frowned.

Genma's drawn kunai shook.

"Shinju, you need help. Come back with us, you have your revenge, we want to help you today. That's why we're here."

Shinju turned to the speaker. "Tsunade-sama…" Shinju hung her head slightly. "I can't go back. I… I'm fine." She raised her head and looked at Tsunade in the eyes, as a friend, on a level. "I'm not sick anymore, I haven't dreamed, I've been sleeping, I… I don't have a problem anymore."

Tsunade hid her shock with difficulty and tried to reason with Shinju. "Shinju," She pleaded almost. She made a small hand motion toward the rest of the battleground. "This is a problem. You're sick…" She whispered, not daring even to look in the direction of her gesture toward the destruction Shinju's inner monster had caused.

Shinju's frown deepened. "Orochimaru created the creature that caused this." She slowly metered her words, creasing her brow in deep thought, almost confusing herself. "Orochimaru…" She searched for words and settled on Itachi's. "… Killed himself."

Tsunade paled and seemed to lose strength. "Well then," she sighed, "your revenge is done. Both of them are dead. Please come back to Konoha with us." Their eyes met and Shinju's thoughts went to Itachi's words of two nights before. They hadn't mentioned it since, but she was sure now that Itachi meant for her to be the new foundation of the Uchiha clan. She seemed to struggle for a moment with Tsunade's words, but really, she was struggling with commitment. Could she commit to a family?

Tsunade and the group waited, and Genma seemed to tense more as the silence stretched on. Itachi's face betrayed nothing of the thoughts in his head, the more Shinju tried to feel him out, the more distantly he seemed to withdraw from her.

Shinju slowly shook her head 'no', never removing her gaze from Tsunade's face. No one was looking at Itachi, but when he moved in response, the group of Konoha shinobi immediately tensed.

But he was only handing Shinju the cloak that marked her as one of the Akatsuki.

Kakashi's jaw dropped as she donned the black and red garment. He knew now, there had to be a fight, and he lowered his stance and raised his hitae-ate. Someone was going to die today, and it wouldn't be him.

Tsunade's head hung low and she fought back tears of regret and pain, like a parent watching their child commit a crime. The other shinobi prepared to fight but Tsunade stood like a stone statue, fists clenched at her sides. Finally she had no choice, there would be a fight no matter how this went, because of Genma's promise to face Shinju today, and because of Kakashi's desire to set things straight between him and Itachi. She would do her best to let the fight take its own course, and began by drawing chakra and slamming her fist into the ground in front of her, breaking the ground for a quarter of a mile around into boulders and flying sand, separating the fighters, two to a missing-nin.

The earth shook and the aftermath of Shinju's confrontation with Orochimaru was swallowed by the fissures. Six shinobi leapt to safety, Kakashi and Tsunade following Itachi and Genma and Shizune darting after Shinju.

The battle that ensued was not as epic as Genma later described it to the ladies. It would be the most humiliating battle of his life, and the most painful for him to recall in honest moments. Itachi unleashed hell on Tsunade while Kakashi fought through a thicket of genjutsu that not even Kurenai could have broken. In mere minutes the two fell, Kakashi lay unconscious in the deepest of sleeps, and Tsunade lay screaming even after the Mangekyou was over. She couldn't even move. Itachi stood wordlessly the whole time, only moving to form a hand seal that would begin Kakashi's nightmare.

Shinju, on the other hand, was engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat against Shizune and Genma. Everyone involved took heavy damage, especially Genma, but when Shinju was forced into a corner of rock, she resorted to desperate measures as usual.

Quickly drawing the last bit of chakra she could muster without killing herself, she formed three hand seals. With a "Huh!" that came straight from her diaphragm, she sent a shockwave of sound hurtling toward her assailants. Genma was partially behind a rock, so the sound was deflected mostly away from him, but Shizune was completely exposed, and the crack of all of her bones imploding at the same time was deafening. Shizune screamed briefly from the pain, but the shards of flying dust and bone inside her body destroyed every organ in her. She was dead in moments.

Genma passed out, and Itachi and Shinju made their way to the edge of the clearing, gathered their belongings and calmly left their fellow leaf ninja to their own devices in the exposed clearing.

* * *

Sakura sat in her office at the hospital, Tsunade had left her in charge since the mission, and Sakura was anxious to know what had happened to the four shinobi. She didn't have to wait long.

Her phone rang and a nurse on the other end called to her, "Hatake-san, come to the first floor emergency ward immediately. Your skills are needed in surgery."

Sakura threw the receiver down and ran to the first floor ward, carrying her heart in her hands the whole way. As she pushed the two-way doors aside, she fought the urge to turn around and run home to hide. She ran into the operating room after washing and suiting up, and was shocked to a standstill. Sakura turned to one of the orderlies in the room.

"There were four on this mission!" She barked at him. "Where is the fourth patient?!" She was fighting tears now, yelling at the poor kid.

"Shizune-san…" He looked down, not knowing what to say.

"If you ever want to be seen in this hospital again, say it right now!" She struggled to keep from slapping him in the face.

"H-hai! Shizune-san was killed in battle."

Sakura's whole bossy, angry demeanor came crashing down in one moment.

She lowered her hands and looked tiredly to the three that awaited care from her.

"Who killed her?" She whispered.

"No one knows…. But not much of her was found…"

"I will see to the remains right after this."

The orderly looked like he wanted to say something to her, but this time nothing could get it out of him, and Sakura didn't care anyway. She shuffled to Tsunade's side and drew chakra, beginning the long, arduous task of finding every injury and repairing it. She figured after a quick exam that Tsunade and Kakashi had been fighting with Itachi because there were no physical sighs of damage, but Genma had taken a serious beating during the battle and whole parts of his shoulder and skull were cracked or broken. Sakura was familiar with this particular sound tactic, and she realized that Shinju must have been in dire straits to have resorted to this technique. Then it dawned on her – Shizune and Genma were fighting together. Shinju used this technique and Genma was only hit peripherally, so he must have been behind something. But Shizune… Shizune must have been the main target of the technique. Things must have gotten desperate.

Sakura set her palms on the operating table and let her weight rest there. She had seen bodies of people who had taken direct hits like that in Sound as Orochimaru developed the technique. _There must not be much left of Shizune._ Sakura cringed, then continued her work. This would be one long healing session.

* * *

AN: As I mentioned, a short chapter, compared to the few before 14 and 15. Actually I think 13 was the longest yet, maybe even longer than Shinju's episode with Kakashi. They will get longer, I promise. Somehow, writing them in peices was easy. Also, I hope that 14 was not too much for some people, I re-read it and I guess it was pretty gross. Like I said to BloodZephyr, there's a reason this fic is rated M, and I said from the start that it wasn't because of jiucy lemons... Thanks for reading 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Merry Go Round of Life

Shinju and Itachi sat across from each other at the sunny table in the breakfast room. Things had changed so much in the last year, with Kisame moving to Zetsu's team to replace Orochimaru, Itachi and Shinju were free to choose their own paths. No one in Akatsuki seemed to care about Shinju killing Orochimaru, in fact, some people seemed relieved to be rid of the tension that filled their group because of him, Zetsu for one. Also, Itachi increasingly relied on Shinju as a training partner, since he was slowly but surely losing his sight. It seemed as though the leader would relieve the group from their duties altogether because Itachi's visual impairment combined with Shinju's condition rendered them practically useless, at least for the time being.

Shinju sipped her orange juice and looked out the window at the clearing in front of the small house. She had planted a small garden there, and now that it was spring again, the roses were just beginning to bloom. She smiled, feeling herself a bit like a bud getting ready to bloom. Itachi frowned and squinted at her, activating his sharingan.

"Itachi," She turned to him and her smile vanished. "You don't have to use your sharingan every time you look at me." She scolded. "It strains it. You never know when you might really need it."

Itachi responded quietly, making eye contact. "Are you sure you're feeling alright today? Nothing unusual?"

"I'm fine." Shinju insisted and smiled again. "Why, is something wrong?"

Itachi's brow furrowed a bit. "No…" He stood and took his coffee cup with him, walking toward the standing mixer and grasping the handle, trying to shake the stainless bowl free.

Shinju rose and placed her hands lightly on his waist, not quite able to reach around him because of her growing abdomen.

"This way, Itachi." She gently guided him in the direction of the coffee-maker.

"You moved it." Itachi accused crossly, still having difficulty coming to grips with his loss of vision. Shinju took the cup from him and filled it. As she handed it back to him, she kissed his cheek and he put his hand on the small of her back.

"Nope." She smiled and his frown broke as he smiled slightly as well.

Itachi whispered to her, holding her face. "I just hope I can still see when he's born."

"Anata, Of course you will," She looked to her belly and sighed. "any day now…"

Kakashi looked sheepishly at Sakura as they sat in Tsunade's office for what seemed like the fiftieth time this year.

"I've done all the research, I've examined both of you. I'm sorry that even though I've done all of this I've had to come to the conclusion that biological children are not a possibility in the case of you two."

Kakashi sighed and looked at Sakura who was quite crestfallen at the news. He looked back to Tsunade and spoke.

"It's because of me, right?"

Tsunade looked a little embarrassed and yes- looked at him with a trace of pity in her eyes.

"Well, yes."

Sakura looked seriously at Kakashi and told him, "It doesn't matter to me where our children come from, Kakashi. As long as its OK with you, I would love to adopt."

Tsunade smiled as the couple joined hands and Kakashi gave Sakura a grateful look.

"There are many orphaned babies in Konoha, especially now that the war is coming to an end." She looked briefly at Sakura. "You know that."

Sakura nodded and looked to Kakashi again. "Well, I guess we're done here. Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama."

"Hai, arigatou gozaimashta." Kakashi rose and bent slightly at the hip in a bow of farewell.

Once the two were outside the office, Sakura looked to him a little tearfully.

"You know, I didn't tell you but the report came in a couple of days ago. Hinata and Shino had a child a few months ago, a little girl, but Hinata was killed in a raid on the border camp at Fire and Sand."

Kakashi looked surprised. "But what about Shino?"

"Well, he loves her very much but doesn't know what to do with Yoshino. She's a very little baby and he is a very serious dad. He doesn't even have any female friends or family that could take care of her. Plus, she didn't inherit the bug-keeping genes, only the byakugan. You'd be the perfect teacher." She smiled weakly.

"I guess." Kakashi kicked a rock.

"You also know Shino well. We should ask him about it."

Kakashi stopped and said softly to Sakura, "I knew his father well."

Sakura became downcast. "Well, let's talk more about it later…. Right now I think I'd rather… um, cook some dinner at home." She added hastily as Kakashi's frown deepened at the thought of going anywhere.

"Shinju, are you sure you're ok?" Itachi looked worried as he leaned against the doorjamb to the kitchen, the deep orange hues of sunset bathing the room with an almost eerie sort of light.

Shinju breathed heavily and set both hands on the island. "I don't know, what does it look like?" She raised her voice, straightening her back and walking another circle around it, stopping in front of Itachi. "I'd say overall I've had worse." The sarcasm in her voice was evident. "I'd say, hmmm…" there was a long pause as she looked pensively at the ceiling, placing her hands on her wide hips. "Oh yeah, I remember when I had my side blown off, and there was that time I was run through by a sword. That hurt more, I _guess_." She waved her hand away. "Nah, maybe not."

Itachi frowned, not caring much for her attitude, but generally unable to do anything about it. "You don't look like you did when Orochimaru put that sword through you."

"Well, maybe you should just shut up!" She turned abruptly to grab the island again as another contraction made its way through her back. Itachi walked over to her and dug his fingers into the sore area, trying to soothe away some of the pain.

"You sure you don't want me to bring Sakura?"

Shinju breathed deeply. "Yeah, I kind of do wish you would go get her. But she'll sooner kill you than come here with you."

"She doesn't know I'm…" he searched for words. "not as I usually am." He ended lamely.

"Fine, whatever, go, but _hurry_."

Itachi smiled behind her back. "I won't leave 'till I see you lay down. I'll get the heating pad."

Sakura and Kakashi lay quietly side by side in the bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the day's events. Suddenly Kakashi sat up and looked to the glass door, then jumped up and grabbed his long katana, no longer a mere relic of his teenage ANBU days.

"Kakashi!" Sakura leapt out of bed and screamed.

Uchiha Itachi stood on their balcony, the breeze gently blowing his loose cloak about him. He didn't move, it was almost as if he was some sort of statue.

Kakashi froze just inside the doors and looked strangely at Itachi's mottled eyes, lowering his sword.

Itachi said nothing, but took two steps forward, walking straight into the glass. Suddenly, the cool and collected missing nin doubled over holding his face, cursing, then pinched the bridge of his nose and tilted his head backwards.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other. Sakura climbed out of bed and dressed hurriedly, then together she and Kakashi went out on the balcony.

Itachi sniffed and lowered his head to its normal position. Sakura walked up to him and carefully felt around his nose and, satisfied, she and Kakashi proceeded to interrogate him in hushed voices.

"What are you doing here?"

Kakashi frowned. "I should kill you right now. Why are you at my house, stumbling around like a fool?"

"Are you drunk?" Sakura looked at him and noticed the discoloration in his irises as well – the famous deep black Uchiha eyes were now cloudy and glittered charcoal grey in the pale light of the waning moon.

Itachi said nothing and stood tensely on the balcony, looking carefully from one nin to another. _The stupid moon… I can't see the color of their hair, can't use my sharingan because they'll take it the wrong way, can't tell where the voices are coming from, they are whispered and too close to my face…_

Kakashi stole a sideways glance at Sakura and she shrugged.

Itachi finally settled and turned toward Kakashi.

"Shinju needs your help."

Sakura sniggered and Itachi blanched, turning slowly to her.

"Sorry." He finally said. Kakashi spoke up, "Itachi, are you having trouble seeing?" He raised his katana again.

Sakura waved her hand at him and mouthed , _"Stop it."_

Itachi sighed. "A little," he admitted, "I'm not fighting you tonight, Kakashi, because I have other pending business that needs attention. Sakura needs to come with me because Shinju is having a baby tonight." Kakashi lowered his katana again, and his breath seemed to stop. It had only been a year since they last saw her, whose could it possibly… _oh shit…_

Sakura frowned. "I can't just leave. I can't just leave with you. This could be a trap."

Itachi lost it. "Would a blind missing shinobi risk his life coming to his greatest enemy's home, asking that enemy's wife to birth a child for nothing?" He imparted coldly. "Just because I'm a killer doesn't mean I don't give a shit about family."

"Yeah right, just not your own family." Kakashi muttered, deliberately trying to provoke Itachi.

Itachi turned to face the other man. "The child is mine." He said simply to Kakashi's face, and the famous copy-nin paused, then blushed and hung his head sheepishly.

"Next time we meet, we'll have a fair fight, in broad daylight." Kakashi made sure Itachi heard the next part, "We'll be _even_."

Itachi frowned again. "I wish I had more time to talk to you about your sharingan, and I wish that we weren't such mortal enemies. But thank you for lending me your wife." Itachi held out his hand and gave Sakura a blindfold. "Please." He implored. Sakura took the blindfold and kissed Kakashi goodbye, promising to be back within two days, and tied the cloth about her head, flying off of her balcony hand-in-hand with the infamous missing-nin of Konoha.

The sun streamed through the pale cream curtains that shifted softly around the window in Shinju's guest room. Sakura lay for a minute, staring at the ceiling, wondering how she allowed herself to be involved in such a mess, then smiled and swung her legs over the edge of the bridge and stretched. She slipped her feet into the house shoes Shinju had let her borrow and made her way across the hall.

Sakura looked her face over carefully in the mirror and splashed some water on it. She stood in the hallway and marveled at the quiet in the house, then smiled again as the quiet was broken by a loud wail from Shinju and Itachi's bedroom where the baby was.

She tapped on the door.

"It's safe." Shinju groggily exhaled, pulling herself upright in bed. Sakura sashayed in and padded over to the baby's crib, lifting him out. She walked over to Shinju who took the baby after unbuttoning her nightdress. Sakura pulled up a chair and watched the baby hungrily gulp his breakfast.

Shinju smiled at her baby. "He's so beautiful, isn't he?" She looked up at Sakura.

Sakura smiled and nodded, adding, "He'll grow up stronger if you continue to breastfeed him until he's ready to be weaned. It's a good thing his mother is strong and healthy as well."

Last night had been a difficult time for both women. The little boy weighed in at almost8.5 pounds, and he was all of 21 inches long. Shinju's labor had been better than some women however, it had only lasted for about eight hours. _Thank god._ Thought Sakura.

But as Sakura's eyes lingered on the boy, her thoughts turned to her own barren marriage. As though she was reading her thoughts, Shinju asked,

"When are you going to get married?"

Sakura sighed and looked at Shinju. "I already am…"

"Oh." Shinju's brow fell. "I'm sorry I didn't know. Who is your husband?" She tried to ask without betraying the hopefulness in her voice.

"You remember Kakashi, right?" Sakura hoped that she wouldn't trigger any bad memories or anything…

"Of course, of course, I told him before I left Konoha that I wanted him to marry you…"

Sakura looked up from her fluffy shoes to Shinju's face, surprised. "Really?"

"Well," Shinju smiled, "not directly, I used a jutsu to do it, but yeah, I'm fairly sure that that's what I would have said."

Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know, did Naruto ever tell you what he saw that kid's mom do in the star village?"

"No, he didn't. What was that?" Sakura looked worried now.

"No reason to panic. He told me about how that kid touched some seal she'd put on the floor, and something like chakra or life force or the woman's soul came out of the seal and helped him beat up someone or something. Pretty complicated. Well, he told me this years ago, and when I was at Orochimaru's I had the opportunity to develop the technique, you know we had all those labs there…"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I remember."

There were a few moments of silence between the two, the only sound being that of the suckling child.

Shinju continued to look at him and said quietly, "You know, I killed him."

Sakura nodded.

"Itachi killed Kabuto."

Sakura nodded some more and Itachi made a noise that sounded suspiciously like, "Shut up…" and rolled his face into his pillow.

Shinju looked at Sakura. "I'm so glad that is over. And I'm so sorry about Shizune. But you know…" She sighed. "I was really weak and injured after fighting with Orochimaru. They wanted to kill me. They backed me into a corner, and Itachi had just asked me to help him restore the clan. I couldn't just… do any mangekyou or anything. I was already suffering from chakra drain, and in that situation, I couldn't risk Genma getting a clean shot at one of my vitals. I had to put them both out." A tear rolled down her face. "I didn't really mean to kill Shizune, I just panicked. I'm sorry."

Sakura just Shh-ed her and fought the tears that welled up even after the year that Shizune had been gone.

More silence went by and Sakura finally asked Shinju what they would name the baby.

"I'm not really sure, I've thought of a couple of different names, but I was sure that Itachi would want to name him…" The women made eye contact. "I was thinking of…"

Itachi rolled over and, eyes still closed, said, "Sasuke. His name's Sasuke."

Shinju smiled. "Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of." She turned to Sakura. "But, please don't tell anyone what his name is, or even that he's a boy. We don't want to risk someone coming after us to kill our children. Without the protection of the village, it will be hard for us, but please understand."

Sakura nodded and stood. "I'll prepare to leave, then."

They looked into each other's eyes. So much had changed, and they just… weren't the same as they had been before. Things were different between the two.

"Sakura," Shinju carefully broke the suction and covered herself. "Come here. Hold him."

Grudgingly, Sakura obliged. As she held the sleeping child, she felt a warm feeling almost like pain blossom in her chest and throat, and her tears started to flow. Sasuke continued to sleep and she sat down again, handing him back to Shinju.

"He really does look like him, even now. We were in the academy together even before he got big, and his little nose turned up just like that. They really do look the same." She really started to cry and rub her running eyes. Itachi pulled the cover over his head and huffed.

Finally Sakura told Shinju everything.

"Kakashi can't have children. So, I guess I'll never have anything like what you have now." Sakura sobbed.

"Oh, Sakura…" Shinju set the baby down in between herself and her husband and Sakura came to her for a hug. They parted and Shinju and Sakura laughed. Suddenly, all the mess of dead friends and past differences and problems seemed like some kind of joke. All that mattered now was that Sakura and Shinju were together like old times, helping each other with their problems, even though now they didn't involve Orochimaru or anything else life-threatening for that matter.

"I wish you'd stay for another day."

Sakura nodded. "I would like to, but I've got a big baby at home waiting to be fed." She sighed. "He's probably back to eating raw eggs again…"

Shinju made a face. "Raw eggs? That's gross…"

Itachi and Sakura made ready to leave for Konoha again as the sun began to set. Shinju stood in the doorway and waved, holding Sasuke in one arm, while her husband and Sakura made their way through the clearing and into the forest.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 : Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

AN: Sexual Content Warning - if you're not 18 LEAVE NOW. : (

The misty gray light of the forest just before dawn swirled slowly around the tents of the ANBU camp just as it had six years before, six years before this whole mess started.

Genma lit his cigarette and stared into the dead embers of last night's fire.

_It's been almost a year now, tracking her._ He stretched a bit and arched his back. _We're finally close now. I can feel it._

Since Shinju destroyed Shizune five years prior, Genma had been begging the Hokage to allow him to seek his revenge and take a team of highly skilled tracking and close-combat ANBU with him to form a unit that would eliminate Shinju. Tsunade had thought that Genma's reaction was just a passing rage, since she was aware of his past behavior when losing a teammate through his file. However, Genma was furious at Shinju, and for five years he allowed his rage to fester and turn to hate and heavy pain in the pit of his stomach.

He took another drag from his cigarette. _I'll kill her._ A small voice whispered in his head. _I'll kill her so she can never take another one of our lives apart. For you, Shizune._

He exhaled and the smoke twisted as the disappearing mist, waiting to be touched, only to be destroyed.

Fall in Fire country.

* * *

The four leaf nins leapt through the trees as morning shadows, touching here for a moment, looking there for a clue. Kakashi, the White Fang's son, wouldn't be outdone by anyone, but _Shinju, you're making this too easy…_ He frowned. He already knew where to look, yet he lingered and made no great point of finally having found her. He was hesitating.

* * *

Shinju lay in bed awake, quietly enjoying the silence of another cool morning. Tinted a light gray, the room sparkled slightly as flecks of dust floated through the rays of sunlight that streaked across the floor. Slowly, Itachi lifted his upper body and turned towards her, his pale scarred torso contrasting darkly with the cream sheets. He opened his unseeing eyes and their gazes met. Shinju closed the space in between them and ran her hand gently through his long black hair, revealing the silver strands that had begun to appear underneath the classic Uchiha ebony. Itachi placed a cool hand on her warm waist, lightly running his fingers along the scar that covered the length of her right side. The couple paused for a moment, comfortably hesitant, then touched lips, then gripped hips and neck napes and were consumed in another gently passionate kiss. Shinju draped her leg over Itachi's thigh, and he obliged her by shifting his weight on top of her, gently grasping her side, then caressing her face and hair, now pressing his hips into hers.

Shinju sighed, lazily caressing his back with her palms, remembering every other time they shared this beautiful consummation of their love for each other. She closed her eyes and felt, just as Itachi must, every small pressure, every untouched inch of her that begged for close contact. _There's no man in the world like this one._

Itachi placed a hand on her waist and moved his warm mouth to her earlobe, gently nibbling, then kissing down her neck to her collarbone, caressing her breast, barely touching with his other hand.

_There's no woman in the world like this one._

Itachi's thought brought him back to reality, he wished he could see her again. He hoped someday, somehow they would be together and enjoy the rest of eternity just like this moment, always together. The thought brought small tears to his eyes, tears that would never fall, but stay with him forever like the thousand treasured memories they shared.

He buried his face in her neck and they embraced each other for several minutes, just lying together, sharing small caresses and occasional kisses.

Shinju wrapped another leg around Itachi's waist, and slowly, gently, Itachi enveloped himself within her warmth. Like a bittersweet goodbye, the lovers shared that morning slowly, as though it was meant to last forever. Finally, Itachi's warmth spread throughout Shinju's tummy and they collapsed together underneath the covers, panting slightly, suddenly hot despite the cool of fall in their cottage.

Shinju held his head tightly in her hand as they pressed themselves together, as though willing him to fuse with her. For no reason, she quietly started to cry. Itachi tensed for a moment, then relaxed. Somehow, it made sense to cry right now. He listened to his own breathing and discovered the softest spot of his core, and there, he found the tears of years gone by, the childhood tears he never cried, all of the tears that he swallowed when he killed his mother and father, and all of the tears of joy that belonged to the years spent in the forest cottage with his red pearl, his Shinju. His fingers dug into Shinju's sides. One single tear, tainted with the pain of the ages, the sorrow of seasons and decades long past, all of the love in his heart, and the beauty of life and death all intertwined slid down his flushed cheek and found its way onto Shinju's hot neck, where it remained unspoken of yet closely shared by the only person in the world who could understand those feelings and pasts and pains.

Suddenly, the couple started. The frame that held their wedding picture had unexpectedly toppled to the floor and lay facedown amid shards of broken glass, heavy with portent of what was to come.

* * *

Ayaka's laugh filled the clearing as Shinju tickled the two year old. Mother and daughter sat on a blanket in the yard watching Itachi and Sasuke as they sparred and practiced Katon jutsu.

Itachi closed his eyes and easily dodged a barrage of kicks and punches thrown by his five year old son, then crouched to the ground as a front kick threatened his abdominal area. The five year old turned and executed a sweep, but Itachi intercepted it and twisted the appendage, bringing the boy to the ground. Itachi towered over him and opened his eyes, then extended his hand.

"You died again."

Sasuke pouted. "You always win, dad…"

Itachi laughed quietly. "Let's see you draw some chakra."

Sasuke smiled widely. This was his favorite part. His face was still injured from his last attempt at Katon, Shinju frowned. _But at least he is happy_, she thought.

The young Uchiha spread his legs and bent them, assuming a nearly immovable stance. Deliberately, he brought his little hands together in a simple hand seal and concentrated on his chakra, struggling to ignite the small flame that he knew was hiding somewhere in his little body.

Finally he let loose the cry, "Katon, gokkakkyu no jutsu!" and breathed out, letting his chakra flow out of his mouth in a giant fireball three times his size.

Itachi closed his eyes and activated his sharingan, taking stock of the size of the fireball his son had achieved.

Sasuke cut off the chakra flow and panted heavily, still not breaking the hand seal he'd formed. He looked to his father hopefully.

Itachi's face softened ever so slightly.

"Well done, son."

He put his arm on the boy's shoulder.

Suddenly Shinju's eyes narrowed, and she whispered,

"They've come. They've finally come."

Itachi stiffened and with a deathly calm, and ordered Sasuke,

"Take your sister into the house, and don't come out until we say you can."

Sasuke looked at his father's silent but stern countenance, eyes like saucers.

Itachi's grip on Sasuke's shoulder stiffened, and his chakra crackled with something like anger and anticipation, something less like worry than fear, and ultimately, something Sasuke had never felt or understood, the bloodlust and rush of adrenaline that fills the soul of a warrior before battle. His grip tightened painfully as the young boy still failed to obey his father's command.

Itachi whispered,

"Get into the house."

Sasuke's eyes widened with fear and he ran to his mother, roughly pulling his sister to her feet by the hand, and with a final tearful yell from Ayaka, the children disappeared into the small house that had come to mean safety for them.

* * *

Shinju stood from the blanket and called Zetsu as Itachi called Kisame. The pair's base was close by, and the four had made prior arrangements should something like this happen. Zetsu still owed Shinju, and Kisame was glad to assist Itachi in any way that he could.­­­­­­­­­­­­­ After several minutes, two figures entered the clearing, and Shinju knew that Sakura was with the Kyuubi container, and Zetsu and Kisame therefore didn't stand a chance for more than 30 or 45 minutes.

_Do we stand a chance?_ Fear crept into every corner of Shinju's being except her face as she witnessed the two men who stood in front of her, the only thing between them and her children herself and her husband. The world seemed to stand still as the White Fang's son stepped toward her, pulled up his hitae-ate and drew a kunai. Her body went limp and she looked to her husband for support. Genma stood in front of Itachi, a snarl etched onto his face.

"My beef isn't with you, Uchiha!" He spat into the ground and drew two fistfuls of senbon. "It's your bitch wife I've come to kill!"

Itachi didn't move, but instead closed his eyes. Shinju shook herself mentally and understood.

_We're fighting._

She dropped her stance and stuck a kunai in her mouth Orochimaru-style, then ran toward Kakashi, making a mad dash in her own usual style – full frontal head-on battle to the death. She swiped at him with a kunai, then crouched and slashed deep into the belly of his flak vest with the kunai held in her mouth. Kakashi dashed backwards and tried to steady himself for a moment, but she was so fast. She already had him in her former trap, a bunshin had run behind him during her dash into danger and swung chakra strings around him.

"Shibata!" He grunted and quickly formed the hand seal for a Kaiwarimi no jutsu, leaving a crooked branch in his place to explode, but not before Shinju took off a finger. He crouched in the fork of a tree, squeezing his bleeding left hand and wrapping it quickly. He heard Shinju's yell,

"You can't run, and you can't hide! I'll kill you all before you ruin me again!"

She climbed the tree with chakra-laced feet and stabbed Kakashi square in the shoulder. Kakashi gripped his shoulder with a strangled, low cry and nearly fell from the tree, but regained his balance and pulled the offending kunai from his joint with a grunt. He drew his long sword, and Shinju did likewise. Kakashi taunted her,

"So, fighting your husband's battles too, huh?" He smirked despite the pain.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaghh!" With a crazed yell she charged him and the sounds of steel clashing and sliding against steel filled the forest. Sparks flew and Shinju led him back to the clearing where Itachi was shielding himself from senbon attacks with a senbon itself. Shinju saw an opening and slashed into Kakashi's other shoulder, blood flew and dirtied her blade, but more importantly it soaked through Kakashi's Jounin uniform with surprising speed.

The two nins stared at each other for a long time, Shinju's bright red eyes trembling with the force of chakra she drew behind them, Kakashi's mismatched ones staring right back at her with equal force.

Shinju frowned and growled at him,

"Go back to Konoha! Leave us in peace! I don't want to kill you, but I will!" She panted. She charged forward with another attack, a barrage of kicks and knife slash squarely hitting Kakashi, or barely blocked by his ever moving sword. Kakashi continued to step backwards, overwhelmed by her speed and determination to kill.

Suddenly, things took a turn for the worst. Taking the last fistful of senbon in his hand, Genma took a chance and flung them at Shinju's back, all aimed for four of the five vital spots in a human body. Itachi sensed they would miss him, but he wasn't one hundred percent aware of Shinju's particular position on the battlefield since his attention was directed toward Genma, so he didn't know where they were headed.

The senbon flew with a whirr through the air and Shinju tensed her back muscles as though in defense as she realized what was about to happen. Her mouth opened in a silent screaming gasp and her whole body convulsed, she stumbled forward but caught herself, and Kakashi lowered his sword as he watched each individual senbon rip through her vitals and lodge there with a force that went unmatched by any other senbon user.

Shinju grabbed the left side of her abdomen, and screamed, her pained cries ripping through the clearing. She began to fall to her knees, but she checked herself, holding herself upright with every ounce of force she possessed. Soon the blood began to soak through her white ANBU vest and trickle down her throat.

_The children… they can't kill them…_ She thought, but every muscle and sinew fought against fighting anymore. Her vision swam, she must have been hallucinating because next she drew a great breath and screamed,

"I won't let you, Orochimaru! I won't turn into that thing!"

She breathed heavily,

"I won't become the THING I HATE!"

She grabbed her neck and pulled the senbon out, then stared at the blood covered thing she held in her hand.

"No…" She whispered. "No." She said. "No!" She screamed. "Genma! No!" Shinju suddenly felt weak and blood began to run down her neck in a heavier flow than before. Then she felt her husband begin to draw chakra, and knew that this would end soon.

Itachi and Genma stood face to face, Shinju standing weakly to one side of her husband, bodily facing Kakashi but with her attention turned toward Itachi.

Itachi breathed rapidly and his eyes clouded murky red as he said,

"I smell your blood, Shinju."

She looked to her feet with a great effort. Sure enough, it was just as he had said, blood was steadily soaking her clothing and gathering in a damp, dark area on the ground she stood over. Genma's senbon were well placed into her vital organs.

"Let me end this once and for all…"

Shinju stared, vision blurring slightly as she watched him form seal after seal. A deep blackness enveloped the area the group stood in, an almost blinding darkness except for the sepia and red hues that tinged familiar objects, a characteristic of the genjutsu brought about by the Mangekyou form of their bloodline limit. She heard a high pitched ringing, whether it was her ears or part of the jutsu she didn't know, and it slowly faded as the genjutsu began to bleed around the edges and finally disappeared altogether. Kakashi, Genma and Shinju all stood dumbfounded, staring at Itachi, not knowing what to do, almost wondering whether they were alive or dead already.

Then it happened. The culmination of his bloodline limit, an ability unique to Itachi. He stood with his feet rooted to the ground as a great wind blasted through the clearing, coming from all directions. Shinju changed her stance and raised her arm to cover her face from the dust that flew. Itachi raised his voice into a scream as he gathered all of his chakra into a small ball which floated in the air in front of the seal formed by his hands. The ball was unlike any other Katon jutsu she had ever seen, and she was unsure of what it would do, but when she heard the words that came from her husband, she wished she had let Genma and Kakashi kill them swiftly and easily. But Itachi wouldn't go down like that, she reasoned. He's a fighter.

"Okii Amataseru no Katon Jutsu!" The words flew from his mouth as the wind that surrounded the three, and the black ball suddenly glowed deep blue, then purple, then began to swell at a rapid pace.

"Shit!" Kakashi exclaimed. He wasn't sure what this was, but he knew that now was the time to act. Evidently, he reasoned, that ball was going to explode into a massive katon of nuclear proportions and kill everyone in the clearing, and anyone in the house or even forest for that matter. He took action.

Focusing his sharingan, Kakashi put the precious relic through its paces until he reached the mangekyou form he had perfected, creating a portal to another universe, a portal that would hopefully suck most of the effects of Itachi's dreaded jutsu into the underworld. Slowly, the portal began to spin and take effect, and as Itachi began to feel the pull, he tried to explode the fireball with every last ounce of chakra in his body.

Shinju uncovered her face as the wind suddenly died after an instant of the blackest darkness covered the clearing. Looking to her husband who breathed all too heavily, suffering from the effect the blast had on him individually as well as severe, almost deadly chakra drain, Shinju was not surprised to see him alive. _We're fighters._ She thought, which was followed by a brief moment of happiness. Then Itachi breathed twice, wheezing; clasped his hands to his solar plexus, coughed thickly once, blood pouring from his mouth onto the clean-swept ground before him, and fell backwards with a dull sound that was the only sound Shinju heard in the whole forest.

She brought her hands to her face, then grasped the edge of her collar and pulled it down in typical Uchiha fashion. She began to run toward him, screaming the whole time.

But this fight would not end with Itachi's death. Genma ran to her back and laced it with kunai that fell in a shower through her already blood-soaked shirt. Her voice caught in her throat mid-scream and she fell to the ground, face first with a thud. Meanwhile, Kakashi took the more humane approach and bound her hands behind her back with the intention of taking her back to Konoha for final judgement.

The long fight had finally come to an end. Shinju lay on her face, hands behind her back, bleeding profusely from the wounds there, her back and legs littered with kunai and senbon. Painfully, slowly, she crawled toward her fallen husband, in a last ditch effort to be close to him as she neared her death. But Genma still wouldn't stop, the gleam in his eyes intensifying.

As she dragged herself closer, he strode to her side, bending to entwine his fingers into her hair, pulling Shinju to her knees by it, eliciting a cry of pain from her throat. Kakashi raced to Genma's side, throwing an arm in front of him.

Tears welled and panic overtook her as she pleaded frantically with them,

"Please don't kill me yet. Please don't kill me," She began to cry in earnest, her sobs the only sounds in the forest. Kakashi grimaced as his heart wrenched at the sound of his old friend begging for mercy. "Please don't kill me yet, Genma. I have to do something…"

Genma threw a sidelong glance at Kakashi, who shot back to him, "She's going to die anyway, Genma…"

Genma loosened his grip on her hair and she fell sitting on her feet, kneeling in the dust.

"Thank you…" she whispered, closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her strength and called out, tears streaming down her bloody, dirty face.

"Sasuke!"

Kakashi and Genma started, and the latter looked questioningly to Kakashi again. Kakashi shrugged, and almost asked her what she was talking about, when the two nins realized the door to the little house had opened, and in its place stood a young boy, about five years of age, the spitting image of the late Uchiha Sasuke. The child froze in the doorway, then ran full speed to his mother.

"O… Okaasan…"

The boy stopped a few feet away, face twisted in shock and confusion.

Shinju opened her eyes with a great effort and smiled despite the wounds covering her body.

"Come here, Sasuke, these men won't hurt you." Her lips trembled and she looked at Genma, then Kakashi pleadingly.

Sasuke stepped gingerly towards his mother and stood next to her, looking boldly and silently into her face.

"Sasuke, I'm going to die." Shinju looked deeply into the boy's face, eyes following his soft features and finally resting on his deep, black eyes.

"Mother, I will avenge you." Sasuke's little face hardened with determination and knelt down to pick up one of Genma's kunai that had missed its mark.

"No, no Sasuke, please put that away," She tried to laugh, wincing from the pain. "Please go with these men after I die and start a new life. Try to love and protect the people that are important to you, and try to find peace, Sasuke."

Sasuke began to cry quietly as he dropped the kunai and turned back to his mother, sobs shaking his small shoulders. He rubbed his eyes.

"Mother… why…"

"Shh, shhh, it's ok. Listen to me." He looked up and into her eyes. 

"Many years ago, I did a very bad thing to this man." Genma frowned slightly and crossed his arms. "I almost killed him. Remember what father and I talked about? About what that bad man from Konoha did to me?" Sasuke nodded, sniffing. "I showed this man those bad things."

Tears poured down the boy's face. "With your sharingan, Okaasan?"

"Yes, sweetie. With my sharingan." Shinju smiled through her pain, proud of her son's intelligence. "He became very sick," Shinju continued, "And later, I injured him again and I killed his important friend. So now, he is going to get his revenge by killing me. It's the way things work, Sasuke. Because I did something bad, now I will get something bad."

Sasuke inched closer to his mother, the weaponry in her back preventing him from hugging her. Shinju struggled weakly in her bonds, but the cords on her wrists didn't give and the pain in her vitals intensified, Shinju bit back a scream of pain. Kakashi stopped his tears with no little effort and quietly prepared himself.

Shinju began to weep again, her face screwing up with all the pain in her heart.

"Sasuke, I love you very, very much." She sobbed. "I love you so much that I would change everything if I could. Your father also loved you very much." She turned her head so that they could share kisses on the cheek. "I love you Sasuke, never forget that. Please take good care of Ayaka for me, and try to find peace…"

Sasuke took a step back after his careful kiss and Genma stepped up to Shinju once more, raising his kunai to the position of the scar by her jugular vein. She closed her eyes.

Kakashi stepped toward Genma, putting a hand on the younger jounin's shoulder.

"Put that down. You will not kill this woman in front of her own child." The two men's gazes met, Genma's confused and hateful, Kakashi's a hard line of determination.

"Not this woman…" Kakashi swallowed the painful knot that rose in his throat.

Genma's hand shook as he made the final decision. As he lowered the kunai, then pushed her over towards Itachi's body, Sasuke screamed and ran to his mother, catching her as best his small muscles could bear and crying out with gut-wrenching sobs, pouring his heart out. He laid her down on her front as softly as he could, Shinju's jaw clenching with the pain of movement, and frantically undid the bindings on her hands. Kakashi slowly made his way toward the boy and helped to remove the various visible weaponry from her body, laying her down slowly next to Itachi. Tears pouring all the while, he finally knelt next to his parents, taking his mother's hand in his, and Kakashi also knelt by the pair.

"Okaasan!" Sasuke held tightly to his mother's shirt as he nestled his burning face in her bosom, Shinju stroked his hair lightly and kept her gaze focused on her deceased husband, blood pooling below her resting body.

Genma stood unmoving, glued to the spot where he had almost killed the young mother who now lay down to take her last peaceful breaths with her closest loved ones.

Finally, after several minutes, Genma and Kakashi's backup arrived. Sakura and Naruto walked slowly toward Kakashi and also bent. Sakura brushed Shinju's hair from her face. Shinju turned to face her friend, still comforting the son who wept onto her chest with a hand on his back. Quietly, Sakura looked at Shinju's ever-paling face and asked her,

"Is he the only one?"

Shinju looked down lovingly at the top of her little boy's head and tears began to flow freely once more as she shook her head weakly. Sakura wiped her friend's face with a clean cloth and smiled through her own tears. She placed both of her hands on Shinju's upper chest and sent tendrils of healing chakra there, searching for damage, finding ruptured vessels, lung punctures and various lacerations and repairing them temporarily, slowly pulling the few senbon from the delicate vitals they were lodged in using her famously precise chakra control. Shinju's breathing slowed, and her pain was visibly relieved.

"Thank you Sakura…" Shinju looked into her friend's eyes. She paused for awhile, then squeezed Sakura's hand.

"Please…"

Her face twisted as she painfully coughed up dark blood from her injured lungs.

Sasuke raised himself from his mother's body and held her hand instead.

"Mother?"

Shinju's face twisted and she doubled slightly, fighting down another cry of pain as tears coursed down her cheeks. Sakura placed a cool hand on Shinju's sweaty forehead and shh-ed her.

"Please, take Sasuke and Ayaka." Shinju waited for Sakura's answer with wide eyes and a solemn expression.

Sakura looked deeply into Shinju's face. "Yes, I will," she whispered, biting back her own tears, "I'll protect them with everything I have." She smiled and clasped the older woman's other hand in her own, cerulean eyes brimming over with pure tears of joy and sadness.

"Thank you…" Shinju smiled weakly, then turned to her son. "Sasuke, please bring Ayaka from the house." He nodded and ran to the house and back, tugging his little sister along by the hand.

Genma stared at the dark-haired girl as Sasuke ran past him, surprised, kunai still in hand. He whispered, "What have I done? I almost killed her… the children…" Genma turned and left the scene, shoulders heaving, face turned downwards, finally able to move again.

Sasuke held his sister's hand while his mother kissed Ayaka's tears away, and Sakura put her arm around the young boy, who then knelt, leaving his sister to cry standing, alone.

"Sakura…" Shinju caught her wrist. "Is he really dead?"

Sakura looked with pity on her friend, reaching over to feel for a pulse, then shaking her head and frowning.

"Yes…"

Shinju's face remained expressionless except for a small sigh and she nodded.

The two stared softly at each other for a long time. Finally, after several minutes, Shinju grasped Sasuke's hand in between both of hers, staring into his eyes, struggling painfully for breath, gasping, squeezing his little hand. Sasuke said nothing, but let the tears soak into the ground at his knees, mixing with the ever-growing pool of blood.

Shinju turned her head slightly and blood ran out the side of her mouth. She tried painfully to curl into a ball; unable to do so, her muscles involuntarily tensed and relaxed, and she breathed her last breath with a slight gurgle and a sigh, slowly closing her eyes. Shinju, great protector, hated betrayer, and feared killer, had finally passed.

Sakura began to cry softly and stood to receive Kakashi's embrace as Sasuke threw himself on his mother's body and began to weep, screaming for her to come back.

Kakashi smoothed Sakura's hair for a minute as he fought his own sobs, then whispered ever so quietly to his wife,

"She was, above all, a loving mother."

_**Fin**_

**_AN that was it I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading this far. Credits are in the next chapter._**


	18. Credits

**Credits **

**AN:** I want to thank all the people that made this fic possible, especially my awesome friend from Kumon who helped me understand some main major basis of story writing. Thanks to all the people who wrote the music that inspired it, all the movies and books that contributed to the development of the story, and all the in-the-middle people who made all of that happen. Of course, I never could have done it without Naruto itself, so I thank Kishimoto Masashi for starting this whole thing.

Here is a list of the soundtrack I planned and played while writing this, in order, as well as some movies that helped me do this. Oh, and for motivation in my off times, my 1983 Mazda RX-7 _saved my life_. Songs with an "N" next to them are from Naruto the series.

**Soundtrack:**

Chapter 1

Hokage N

Orochimaru Fight N

Chapter 2

Sakura's Theme N

Sasuke Destiny N

Chapter 3

Glued State N

The Raising Fighting Spirit N

Chapter 4

Evening N

Tea Country N

Chapter 5

Evening N

Hunter (Bjork)

Geumja's Prayer (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Chapter 6

Evening N

Gaara's Childhood N

Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight (Babel)

Chapter 7

Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight (Babel)

Chapter 8

So Cold (Breaking Benjamin)

The Great Disappointment (AFI) [inspirational

45 (Shinedown) [""

Chapter 9

Funeral Pyre (The Bourne Supremacy)

Atonement (The Bourne Supremacy)

The Ninth Gate (The Ninth Gate)

The Angel (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Track 8, CD 1 (I'm Sorry I Love You OST)

Just Like You (I'm Sorry I Love You OST)

Chapter 10

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (Sting)

Every Breath You Take (Sting)

Kakashi's Theme N

Mr. Sandman (The Andrew Sisters)

Chapter 11

Berlin Foot Chase (The Bourne Supremacy)

Chapter 12

Confrontment N

Bad Situation N

Unhappy Party (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Pause Menu (Perfect Dark)

Pagan Poetry (Bjork)

Chapter 13

Alien Conflict (Perfect Dark) [Inspirational

The Phone Call (Babel) [""

Sneaking Nightmare N

Whistle Stop (Robin Hood Theme)

Strange Wind (Poe, Anywhere But Here soundtrack)

Piano Nocturn (Brown Eyes)

Train Ride (Spirited Away)

Merry Go Round Of Life (Howl's Moving Castle)

Bibo No Aozora/Endless Flight (Babel)

Chapter 14

Mutter (Rammstein)

Stein um Stein (Rammstein)

Chapter 15

Ohne Dich (Rammstein)

Gaara's Childhood N

Chapter 16

Track 15 (I'm Sorry I Love You)

Parachutes (Coldplay)

Session (Linkin Park)

Secret Garden (Howl's Moving Castle)

The Angel (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Mareta, Mareta, No'm Faces Plorar (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Chapter 17

A Prayer (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)

Track 9 (I'm Sorry I Love You)

Gaara's Childhood N

Bim Bam Smash (The Bourne Supremacy)

Grief and Sorrow (Hokage's Funeral) N

Sadness and Sorrow N

Gaara's Childhood N

Credits

Return To Innocence (Enigma)

**Movies/Shows/Books:**

Naruto

Dragon Ball Z

The Bourne Supremacy

Apocalypse Now

Forrest Gump

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Oldboy

Babel

Out for Justice

The Professional

Harry Potter

Spirited Away

The Other Sister

_The Way of the Ninja_

**People:**

Jason Bourne

Vegeta

Steven Segal

The Cast of Naruto

Real Life Army people I know

My dad

My people at work

Myself

**More Music:**

Linkin Park

Papa Roach

Taking Back Sunday

Jimmy Eat World

AFI

Black Sabbath

Metallica

And all you other crazy fools…

_**THANK YOU**_


End file.
